

World 





e World 











THE STORY 


OF 


A DEDICATED LIFE. 


BY THE 

REV. JAMES C. MOFFAT, D.D. 


WITH A SKETCH OF THE LIFE 

OF 

HENRY JAMES OWEN. 



PHILADELPHIA : 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION 
AND SABBATH-SCHOOL WORK, 

1334 CHESTNUT STREET. 



jay 

975 


COPYRIGHT, 1889, BY 

THE TRUSTEES OF THE 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION 
AND SABBATH-SCHOOL WORK. 


ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 


Jl, 

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■ . 

> 


Westcott & Thomson, 
Stereotypers and Electrotypers , Philada , 





PREFACE. 


The “Story of a Dedicated Life,” as related 
in the following pages, needs no introduction. 
The story is told, too, in such a way that the 
beauty of the life shines out clear and unhin¬ 
dered in the pages of the biography. 

The New York jEvangelist says very truly of 
this volume, “ Dr. Joseph Owen has been fortu¬ 
nate in his biographer. Dr. Moffat writes with 
the affection of a friend, in deep sympathy with 
the cause of missions, and with an historian’s 
ample knowledge of India and its religions. 
His book is a terse sketch of Indian missions, 
and at the same time of the life of a devoted 
missionary. Incidentally it contains one of the 
best descriptions extant of the Sepoy mutiny. 
Let it go into the missionary libraries of our 
churches to feed the flame of missionary spirit.” 

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CONTENTS 


CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Days of Education. 7 

CHAPTER II. 

A Voyage Round the Cape of Good Hope. 18 

CHAPTER III. 

A Missionary Voyage on the Ganges Fifty Years Ago. 28 
CHAPTER IV. 

Allahabad.—Its Religious Character.—The Mission 
Station.—Preliminary Work of the Missionary... 50 

CHAPTER V, 

Population, Languages and Religious Changes in Upper 
India, and the Relations of the Presbyterian Mis¬ 
sion thereto.-. 67 

CHAPTER VI. 

Education of the Heathen. 88 

CHAPTER VII. 

General Progress and Events of Missionary Work. 105 

5 








6 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

PAGB 

Translation and Publication. 125 

CHAPTER IX. 

The Mission at Allahabad during the Sepoy Mutiny.. 140 

CHAPTER X. 

An Attempt at Return to Mission Work. 170 

CHAPTER XI. 

Returning to Work—From Calcutta to Furruckabad 
in the Trail of the Mutiny, and through Lord 
Clyde’s Army. 186 

CHAPTER XII. 

Restoration of the Mission... 215 

CHAPTER XIII. 

A Trip to Simla and in the Himalaya. 237 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Work Completed. 245 

CHAPTER XV. 

Sketch of Life of Henry James Owen. 262 









THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


CHAPTEE I 


DAYS OF EDUCATION. 



MONG the youth pursuing their studies at 


^ Princetou in the year 1834 there were a few 
who regularly met weekly for religious improve¬ 
ment. Their association was called the Philadel¬ 
phian Society, from its purpose to promote the 
feeling of Christian brotherhood in its members, 
and through them among mankind. Singly or 
in committees they collected information of the 
moral and religious condition of their own and 
other countries, and among the enterprises of the 
time most interesting to them was that of Chris¬ 
tian missions to the heathen. 

On entering the society in those days there 
were some names with which a new-comer soon 
became familiar—not because those who bore 
them were obtrusive in any way, but from the 
general deference paid to their characters and 
opinions. Such were especially Morrison, Dough¬ 
erty, Freeman, Owen, Janvier and Canfield. It 


7 



8 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


is pleasant to think of them as they were then, 
just entering upon manhood, or approaching it, 
full of energy, buoyant with hope and elevated 
with the sentiment of a lofty purpose. The bur¬ 
den of their conversation at all times among them¬ 
selves was alleviation of the ills of human life, 
the salvation of souls, the glory of God the Sav¬ 
iour and the means through which they hoped to 
be useful to those ends. There is a nobility in 
the self-forgetting consecration of pious youth. 
In many cases it wearies and fails in the struggle 
with the world; in the case of that little group it 
never suffered debasement. The purpose of their 
youth ripened into the execution of their maturer 
years. At a time when foreign-missionary work 
was still new to most of our Protestant churches, 
and viewed with more apprehension and attended 
with more privation and danger than it is now, 
they all offered themselves on the altar of that 
sacrifice, and never afterward shrank from the 
duties thus incurred nor ever revoked their choice. 

Joseph Owen, then about twenty years of age, 
was already marked by a maturity of purpose 
which, while it made him unattractive to those 
who lived for pleasure, enlisted on his behalf the 
respect of earnest and studious men. Of stature 
above the medium, of staid demeanor, profoundly 
modest, and yet self-possessed, there was a gentle 


DAYS OF EDUCATION. 


9 


dignity in liis address which effectually defended 
him against offensive intrusion and could easily 
become severe upon violation of its bounds, while 
always ready to warm into a beam of affection 
for a friend. He was a native of Bedford, West¬ 
chester County, New York, a son of James and 
Lucretia Merrit Owen, born on the 14th of June, 
1814. His father, a man of highly-estimable 
character, died wdiile his son was yet under ten 
years of age. His mother, a pious member of 
the Presbyterian church in Bedford, endeavored 
to bririg up her children in the knowledge and 
fear of the Lord. 

Joseph early evinced a superior capacity for the 
acquisition of learning and a desire to become a 
minister of the gospel. In the course of his 
studies with a view to that end he was encour¬ 
aged by his pastor, the Rev. Jacob Green, who 
also employed him during college vacations in 
Christian effort equally profitable to his own 
spiritual life and preparatory for his contem¬ 
plated work. Mr. Green was one of those who 
formed the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Mis¬ 
sions, and was its recording secretary for many 
vears. To him and his excellent lady was Mr. 
Owen greatly indebted for that Christian influ¬ 
ence which entered into the formation of his 
character. In October, 1832, he entered the 


10 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


sophomore class at Princeton. Before the ses¬ 
sion had far advanced he was ranked among the 
best scholars of the class, and had taken his place 
with those who in the Philadelphian Society were 
banded together in the cause of practical religion. 

Oren K. Canfield was a man of few words 
whose religion was severe and his deportment 
grave. He had taken leave of the world when 
he gave himself to Christ, and no longer admit¬ 
ted of tampering with any of its ways. But the 
sombre manner covered warm and gentle affec¬ 
tions which needed only the approach of Chris¬ 
tian fellowship to elicit it. He was a moderate 
scholar and faithful in application, but believed 
that all effort after class honors and all manifes¬ 
tations of himself belonged to that spirit of the 
world which he sought to resist and mortify. 
Severe to himself, he was considerate and forgiv¬ 
ing to others and willing to be spent for the 
salvation of his fellow-men. Maturer experi¬ 
ence might have taught him that a man limits 
his usefulness in thus denying himself, but his 
serious, single-minded, devoted life was early 
laid down in the front rank—the forlorn hope 
of missionary effort on the west coast of Africa. 
And I have no doubt that it was laid down as 
bravely, with as complete a resignation, as if it 
had followed a victory. When I think of that 


DAYS OF EDUCATION. 


11 


quiet, self-contained, seldom-speaking young man 
moving about among us with only one great aim 
absorbing his being—not despising, perhaps, but 
having no heart for, our college distinctions—his 
careful and solemn spiritual preparation for his 
contemplated work and his death in the breach 
before a foothold within the fortress was won, 
there are none of my young companions whom 
I remember with a more respectful tenderness 
than Oren K. Canfield. 

John E. Freeman had come from the work¬ 
shop. Scholarship was to him only means to an 
end—in itself nothing, a mere retort which might 
be broken and thrown away when the end it was 
made for was accomplished. And that end, as 
far as he was concerned, was preparation for the 
gospel ministry among the heathen. Converted 
from the midst of profligate companions whom 
he saw hastening on to ruin, he was filled with a 
sense of the atrocity of sin, its prevalence and 
power in the world, and of the calamitous con¬ 
dition of the nations where no gospel interfered 
with the full development of its fruits in misery. 
Anything was in his estimation valuable which 
went to qualify him the better to proclaim the 
gospel to the heathen, that he might be the 
means of staying as much as he possibly could 
the overwhelming tide of sin. What did not 


12 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

look to that end was nothing in his eyes. Clas¬ 
sics, philosophy, science, professors the most 
learned or the most eloquent, were nothing in 
themselves, only means. The great end in view 
swallowed up everything. From the day of his 
conversion until he left his native land was one 
unabating rush of preparation. He could not 
wait to complete his apprenticeship nor proceed 
by the slow method of self-education, but bought 
up the remainder of his time, rapidly finished his 
preparation in the grammar-school, went imme¬ 
diately from college into the theological semina¬ 
ry, and was ready to set out for the foreign field 
assigned him as soon as he had completed the 
theological course. Everything undertaken by 
him was marked by the same almost impatient 
rapidity. What was once done was done—if 
perfectly, well; if imperfectly, so much the worse, 
but never to be recurred to unless it belonged to 
the tasks of recurring duty. His rapidity of 
movement, the sparkle of his eye, his quick but 
clear and distinct utterance and the animation 
and firmness of his countenance all spoke the 
man of resolute purpose and despatch in execu¬ 
tion. Such, not as a scholar, but in whatever 
was put into his hands to do, was his clear, expe¬ 
ditious discharge of duty until the day when he 
fell in the massacre at Cawnpore. 


DAYS OF EDUCATION. 


13 


A careful culture from infancy in a refined 
Christian family had prepared Levi Janvier to 
take with facility a place among the first-honor 
men of his class. His scholarship was not exten¬ 
sive, but was precise and true, firmly apprehended 
and held at deliberate command. There was no 
halting in his recitations: they were clear and 
complete. But beyond the studies assigned to 
the class in that direction he cared not to go. 
Scholarship, although he excelled and took pleas¬ 
ure in it, was not his aim: it was preparation to 
preach the gospel, and he labored to be well pre¬ 
pared. His opinions were as precise as was his 
scholarship. Earnestly above all other things 
desiring the salvation of men, he did not con¬ 
ceive of that end as being attainable except by 
the path of sound Calvinism. The same precis¬ 
ion was a feature of his manner and deportment. 
And yet there was about him always and invari¬ 
ably, and in him intrinsically, a sweet and gentle 
courtesy, the genuine outgrowth of a heart glow¬ 
ing with Christian love. Another such combi¬ 
nation of warm, really tender outgoing affection 
with severe, precise self-culture I have never 
known. It was always the same. The two feat¬ 
ures of character did not alternate in him: they 
were harmoniously blended. Whatever moods 
of mind he may have been subject to, they never 


14 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


ruffled the serenity of his outer life. In maturer 
years it was the gentler element of his nature 
which preponderated. His death in India by the 
hands of an assassin was an event which no com¬ 
mon passion could explain. 

Joseph Owen associated freely with his fellow- 
students, but with those now mentioned his rela¬ 
tions were most intimate through both his colle¬ 
giate and his theological course. And the benefit 
which he derived from their society was perhaps 
well balanced by that which he conferred. Of 
all the group, he alone took a real interest in 
learning—not merely for the ends to be reached 
by it, but for its own sake. In that love of 
knowledge which wrestles with difficulties cor¬ 
dially and rests not until they are mastered he 
was excelled by none of his compeers, while the 
elevation and the equableness of his Christian life 
were often a support to friends subject to more 
fluctuating moods. After receiving his first de¬ 
gree in college, in September, 1835, he entered 
the theological seminary in Princeton. There 
employed in studies more completely within the 
range of his purposes for life, he distinguished 
himself by great superiority of attainment. Es¬ 
pecially in the department of biblical literature 
and Oriental languages he earned the highest 
commendations of Dr. Joseph Addison Alexan- 


DAYS OF EDUCATION. 


15 


der, then entering upon the prime of his own 
brilliant career. His theological course was ex¬ 
tended to four years, during three of which he 
was also mathematical tutor in college, and in 
that capacity acquitted himself with his usual 
industry and success. It was with a view the 
better to prepare for his contemplated work in 
an Oriental mission by fortifying himself in the 
Oriental languages under the instructions of Pro¬ 
fessors Alexander and Nordheimer that he took 
the additional year. With the latter he pursued 
the study of Arabic and Sanskrit. By the end 
of that time he had read with strict grammatical 
care the whole of the Hebrew Bible and in Ara¬ 
bic the whole of the Koran, and made consider¬ 
able progress in the classical language of India, 
besides exceeding the measure of the studies as¬ 
signed to the classes in other departments. 

At the close of the session of 1839—which then 
occurred in September—he left Princeton, and 
was ordained by the Presbytery of Westchester 
at Bedford on the 2d of October following. Im¬ 
mediately afterward he was appointed by the 
Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions to their 
recently-selected field in Northern India. For a 
few months, including the winter of 1839-40 and 
the succeeding spring, he acted as an agent of the 
Board in some of the Middle States. His friends 


16 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE . 


Morrison and Freeman had already preceded him 
to India—the former in 1838, and the latter in 
1839. And in the same year in which Morrison 
went to the East, Dougherty had gone to the 
West and commenced his mission among the 
Chippewa and Ottawa tribes, to whose spiritual 
interests his life was in all its best energies 
devoted. 

On August 3, 1840, Mr. Owen took leave 
of his mother and sisters and younger brother, 
and of all the nearest and dearest to him, to 
go forth in the service of his Lord to preach the 
gospel to the heathen. That parting cost him 
inexpressible suffering; he never recurs to it in 
his journals or letters without a fresh outburst of 
emotion, for he was a man in whom the social af¬ 
fections were warm and tender. But even in that 
crisis of trial I feel assured that the thought of 
drawing back—the thought that this was too ex¬ 
pensive a way of doing good—never for a mo¬ 
ment occurred. Dedication to missionary work 
had become a part of himself. It had ceased to 
be a question before his mind; as such it had 
been closed up long ago, nevermore to be opened. 
It was the decree of God for him. He knew that 
it would cost self-denial, but his mind was made 
up for self-denial. What it would cost was no 
longer to be considered: he had summed up all 


DAYS OF EDUCATION. 


17 


that when he gave himself to the Lord. Nor 
was this separation from all he loved most dearly 
upon earth designed to be temporary ; in his view, 
it was final. The devotion of himself was with¬ 
out reserve; it was to live and die in his work. 
When a friend remonstrated with him, “ Why 
incur such exposure to an unhealthy climate? 
You may not live long/’ “ I do not expect to live 
long,” was his reply. “ Some must go to begin the 
work.” His going to what he felt to be duty was 
not to depend upon the chances of life, yet that 
entire self-dedication was not made in a stern 
and gloomy spirit: he did not go to his life’s 
work like one going to execution—for asceticism 
was no part of his nature, which was genial and 
sociable—but not the less was the self-consecra¬ 
tion irreversible. 

On the second morning after that parting Mr. 
Owen sailed from Boston in the barque Eugene, 
Captain Whitney, upon the long voyage round 
the Cape of Good Hope. He went in company 
with his friends of the theological seminary, the 
Rev. John C. Rankin and William H. M’Auley, 
who with their wives and Miss Jane Yanderveer, 
a teacher, were appointed to the missions of the 
Presbyterian Church in Northern India. 

2 


CHAPTER II. 


A VOYAGE ROUND THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 

{ MONTH after leaving Boston the missionaries 
were far down on the coast of Africa, opposite 
Sierra Leone, and thus did Mr. Owen express 
himself: “We have been sailing about thirty- 
hours nearly east and drawing nearer and nearer 
to that dark and benighted peninsula. It is in¬ 
deed melancholy to think of the millions now so 
near us that are sunk to the lowest depths of deg¬ 
radation and wretchedness/’ A few months ear¬ 
lier his friend and fellow-member of the Phila¬ 
delphian Society, the Rev. Oren K. Canfield, in 
company with Mr. Pinney and Jonathan P. Al- 
ward, a younger member of the same society and 
a student of the theological seminary in Princeton, 
had passed along that coast on an exploring visit 
to select a place for a missionary station. They 
had determined upon one among the Kroo peo¬ 
ple, about, halfway between Cape Palmas and 
Monrovia, and now were again at home prepar¬ 
ing for the occupation of it. Four months later, 
18 


VOYAGE TO INDIA. 


19 


in February, 1841, Canfield and Alward returned 
to begin their work with buoyant hopes in the 
new and vast field which lay before them—hopes 
early disappointed. The malaria of that fatal 
coast carried off Alward almost as soon as he ap¬ 
proached it, and in May of the next year Can- 
field followed him to the grave. Their compan¬ 
ions returned home with the exception of one col¬ 
ored teacher who survived to conduct his work. 
But self-sacrifice for that part of Africa was not at 
an end. The Rev. Robert Sawyer, also of the Phil¬ 
adelphian Society, arrived with his wife at Mon¬ 
rovia in December, 1841, and proceeded to Settra 
Kroo to take up the work of those departed friends 
whom he had expected to assist. He did not long 
survive them. In December, 1843, he also fell a 
victim to the climate, but ere that date the work 
of Christian instruction had been successfully es¬ 
tablished and schools had been put into prosper¬ 
ous operation, which Mrs. Sawyer continued to 
conduct after her husband’s death, while educated 
colored men were introduced to teach and to 
preach the gospel to their countrymen. 

After thirty days’ sailing down the coast of 
Africa, though never once coming in sight of it, 
the Eugene had passed beyond the extreme point 
of the continent into the Southern ocean. On 
the 3d of October, Mr. Owen wrote in his journal: 


20 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


“ We are now far in the dreary South, where 
we seem to ourselves to be almost out of the world. 
We expect to cross the meridian of London to¬ 
morrow. We are south of the Cape of Good 
Hope, but, on account of a strong current which 
sets in from Madagascar, it is customary on an 
outward voyage to India to sail as far up as the 
thirty-eighth or thirty-ninth degree of south 
latitude before making much easting. What is 
called ‘ doubling the Cape’ is therefore sailing 
thus far south and then turning and going east 
about five or six thousand miles. We expect to 
be in cold weather about a month, and truly the 
prospect is not a very cheering one. We can 
have no fire, and, with all the bundling up con¬ 
venient for us, we can hardly keep warm. 

“ October 4, Sabbath .—My thoughts have been 
much in Bedford to-day. Oh how delighted 
would my heart have been to join with my 
dear friends once more in commemorating the 
Saviour’s dying love! I love to think of that 
place where I first publicly dedicated myself to 
God, where I was for years fed with the sincere 
milk of the word, where I have often held sweet 
communion with many dear Christian friends, 
where I received license to preach the everlast¬ 
ing gospel, and where I was solemnly ordained 
to the work of the holy ministry.” 


VOYAGE TO INDIA. 


21 


Without any event worthy of notice the pro¬ 
tracted imprisonment of the missionaries termi¬ 
nated on the 24th of December by their landing 
at Calcutta. 

“ The natural scenery which we pass in going 
up the river is very beautiful. The deep rich 
green which covers the banks is most delightful 
to the eyes after seeing nothing but ocean and 
sky for nearly five months. This evening, when 
walking the deck, I could not wonder that India 
had been painted by so many as a sort of fairy¬ 
land. All was calm; nothing was to be heard 
but the voices of natives on the shore or from the 
water, and the paddling of their oars up and 
down the yellow Hoogly. The water was smooth 
as glass, and gave a perfect reflection of the west¬ 
ern sky after the sun had sunk beneath the hori¬ 
zon. Here indeed 

‘Every prospect pleases, 

And only man is vile.’ 

The noble array of palaces, gardens and groves 
on both sides of us as we passed presented a 
picture of luxury and magnificence. There 
was, however, a defect in the appearance of the 
buildings: they were too low—not more than 
two stories high. There was also a sameness in 
the scenery which I could not help contrasting 


22 


TIIE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


with the beautiful variety of that on the Hud- 
son.” 

On the day following their arrival in Calcutta 
they met with Gopinath Nundy, from the mission 
at Futtehghur, who proved of great assistance to 
them in making arrangements for their journey. 

In Calcutta they found true friends among the 
English and American residents, who extended 
to them every kindness they could expect. Dur¬ 
ing the two weeks spent in that city Mr. Owen 
visited some of the public institutions, of which 
he wrote home interesting accounts. On his first 
Sunday in Calcutta he worshiped at the Scottish 
kirk, and heard Dr. Duff preach in the morning 
and Dr. Charles in the evening. Some of Dr. 
Duff’s speeches and sermons had been much ad¬ 
mired in America, and Mr. Owen’s expectations 
were high. He testifies that they were not dis¬ 
appointed. That first Lord’s day in a heathen 
land made a deep impression upon his mind: 

“ The streets of Calcutta present the same ap¬ 
pearance on the Sabbath as on other days. The 
multitudes that we see during the week are also 
thronging the streets to-day, and are busied 
about their usual concerns. Their shops and ba¬ 
zars, or markets, are all open; some are carrying 
pal/cis, others driving carts loaded with goods; the 
bhistis , or water-carriers, are going about with 


VOYAGE TO INDIA. 


23 


tlieir leathern water-bags hanging from their 
shoulders ; hawkers are going about the streets 
trying to sell light articles, and others are going to 
and fro, seeming hardly to know where. Under 
my window there is a constant hum of voices en¬ 
gaged either in business or in amusement. Think 
of the difficulty of keeping one’s heart in such cir¬ 
cumstances ! If this is admitted to be so difficult 
in a Christian land, where so many external ad¬ 
vantages combine to favor one’s efforts, what 
must it be here, where everything is unfavorable, 
where Satan reigns with almost unlimited control ? 
But the name of the Lord is a strong tower to 
which the righteous may continually resort.” 

Some delay being occasioned by difficulty in 
procuring suitable boats and other necessaries for 
the voyage up the river, Mr. Owen took the op¬ 
portunity to see many objects of interest in the 
great Anglo-Indian city. Among other such, 
he visited the premises of the Baptist mission, 
on what is called the Circular Boad, and the 
bishop’s college, down the river. On the 2d of 
January he writes as follows: 

“ No words are adequate to express the feelings 
raised by what I have seen to-day. I have been 
at the Scotch school, where six hundred heathen 
youth are receiving a Christian education, and 
such an exhibition of order, mental vigor and 


24 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


thorough instruction I have never before seen. 
This school is uprooting in the minds of all who 
are taught in it the whole system of Hinduism. 
It was formed little more than ten years ago, 
stands near the centre of the native town in an 
extensive open place, and is advantageously situ¬ 
ated for coolness—the greatest object toward com¬ 
fortable living to be attained in the selecting of 
building locations in this country. The school¬ 
building has only one story, and is therefore 
spread over a large surface of ground. 

“ It was delightful, on entering the school¬ 
room of Dr. Duff, to cast the eye over five hun¬ 
dred Hindu children dressed in the native cos¬ 
tume, arranged in classes, each of which was 
formed into a square with a monitor standing 
within, proposing questions and hearing the reci¬ 
tations. Most of their countenances were spright¬ 
ly and intelligent. We were first taken to the low¬ 
est class, and went from that up. These were most 
of them very young children, say from five to 
eight years of age, all learning the English al¬ 
phabet through the medium of Bengalee, their 
native tongue, and taught by natives. The next 
two or three classes were small grades higher, con¬ 
sisting of those who had learned to combine the 
letters into syllables or short words. A little far¬ 
ther on were classes learning Scripture truths in 


VOYAGE TO INDIA. 


25 


the way of question and answer, as, ‘ Who made 
al] things ? ‘ 1 God.’—‘ What is God ? ‘ He is 
a spirit.’—‘ Can lie see you ?’— 4 Yes.’—‘ Can you 
see him ?’—‘ No a new idea to a Hindu mind 
and striking at the root of an enormous fabric 
of superstition. Still higher were those who 
could read, and farther on were classes learning 
English grammar, then arithmetic, geography, 
and some simply studied history. In an ad¬ 
joining room were classes engaged on more 
extended works on geography and history, and 
learning Euclid’s elements and astronomy. 

“ After this we went into another department, 
where some of the highest branches of mathe¬ 
matics, history, the physical sciences, mental and 
moral science, evidences of Christianity and doc¬ 
trinal theology are taught. 

“ I can truly say that I never before saw such 
an admirable display of mind as was exhibited 
during this examination. It is not extravagant 
to say that it was far beyond anything that may 
be seen among the large majority of students in 
our colleges and theological seminaries. The 
young men showed that they had not only read 
on those subjects, but had thought carefully and 
profoundly for themselves. 

“ The ages of the members of this department 
were, I should judge, from sixteen to twenty-four 


26 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE . 


or twenty-six. They have learned to speak En¬ 
glish with ease, and most of them take pleasure in 
reading the Bible in our language. A lecture is 
delivered to them every Sabbath evening in the 
institution, which is well attended. I was pres¬ 
ent last Sabbath, and saw almost every eye direct¬ 
ed toward the speaker; and whenever he referred 
to a text of Scripture, the students had their 
Bibles at hand and readily found it. None of 
them board in the institution, and it is entirely 
optional with them whether they shall attend 
any of the exercises of the school or not. It is 
remarkable that even during their great festivals 
they nearly all come. The Bible is carefully 
taught every day, yet so great is their desire to 
obtain a knowledge of the English language that 
they are willing to learn the Christian religion 
for the sake of the language through which it is 
communicated. Science seems to assume a reli<r- 
ious importance in this country. Nothing does 
more toward the subversion of Hinduism than 
the teaching of true notions connected with the 
physical sciences, since a large part of it is based 
on and mingled with false assumptions in ref¬ 
erence to the natural world. The government 
schools established in different parts of the coun¬ 
try teach the English language and give the pu¬ 
pils access to our sciences, but carefully exclude 


VOYAGE TO INDIA. 


27 


the Christian religion from their course of in¬ 
struction. The consequence of this must be that 
as they lose confidence in their own religion, and 
have no other to substitute in the place of it, they 
will be transformed from idolaters into skeptics 
and infidels. Such a result every Christian 
heart must deprecate.” 

On the 5th of January he writes: 

“ I went this morning to a missionary prayer¬ 
meeting. It is customary with the missionaries 
of all denominations in Calcutta, on the first 
Tuesday morning of every month, to meet at 
half-past seven for prayer. They have break¬ 
fast at the place where they assemble, and then 
spend some hours together in conference, dis¬ 
cussing questions of practical importance to them 
in the prosecution of their labors.” 


CHAPTER III. 


A MISSIONARY VOYAGE ON THE GANGES FIFTY 
YEARS AGO. 

T HE enterprise which Mr. Owen and his com¬ 
panions were now proceeding to join was com¬ 
menced in the year 1834 by the Rev. John C. 
Lowrie, under direction of the Western Foreign 
Missionary Society. In the Presbyterian Church 
of the United States foreign-missionary effort 
made its beginning in the action of the Synod 
of Pittsburgh, October, 1831. On that occasion 
the society now mentioned was organized “ with 
the hope of calling into action the slumbering 
energies of the Presbyterian Church in the great 
work of sending the gospel of salvation to the 
perishing heathen.” Its appeal to the Church 
declared that, although the society “ originated 
in the Synod of Pittsburgh, it was composed of 
the ministers, Sessions and churches not only of 
that body, but of any other Synod or Synods, 
Presbytery or Presbyteries, that formally unite 
with them.” In 1837 the General Assembly of 

the Presbyterian Church appointed a Board of 
28 


VOYAGE ON THE GANGES. 


29 


Foreign Missions, and to that the Western soci¬ 
ety transferred itself, with all its missions and 
funds. 

In 1833 the Western Foreign Missionary So¬ 
ciety resolved to attempt something toward aid¬ 
ing in the evangelization of India. In October 
of that year the first missionaries, the Fev. 
Messrs. W. Feed and J. C. Lowrie, with their 
wives, arrived at Calcutta. There they took 
counsel of English Christians long resident in 
India, among whom were the Fev. William 
Pearce of the English Baptist mission, the Fev. 
Dr. Duff of the Scottish mission, and Sir Charles 
Trevelyan, one of the secretaries in the civil serv¬ 
ice of the East India Company, who had resided 
in the upper country. They were on all hands 
encouraged, according to their first purpose, to 
proceed to the extreme north-west of the prov¬ 
inces then under British rule. It was a country 
recently opened to missionary effort, but in great 
measure unoccupied ; it lay in a relation to other 
heathen countries west and north of it “ which 
suggested the hope that the gospel might be 
eventually extended from thence into the heart 
of Central Asia,” and the superior energy of its 
people as compared with those of the lower prov¬ 
inces suggested greater expectations from their in¬ 
strumentality in subsequent progress. 


30 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


Lodiana, a city on the river Sutlej, the most 
eastern tributary of the Indus, was selected as 
the station to be first occupied. But only one 
member of that company was ever to see the 
place. Mrs. Lowrie died at Calcutta, and Mr. 
Heed’s failing health constrained him to aban¬ 
don the attempt to proceed farther. Accompa¬ 
nied by his wife, he turned his face homeward, but 
died on the way. Mr. Lowrie, having arrived at 
Lodiana in November, 1834, was almost immedi¬ 
ately prostrated by disease, and upon his recovery 
was urged by his medical advisers to return home, 
as his constitution could not stand that climate. 
Still unwilling to leave the post until others 
should arrive to occupy it, he remained over a 
year doing pioneer work which proved of value 
to his successors. 

In December, 1835, the Bev. John Newton 
and the Bev. James Wilson, with their wives, 
arrived, and took up the work which Mr. Lowrie 
had begun. Thus relieved, he left Lodiana, and 
at Calcutta, in the month of March, met a third 
company, consisting of William S. Bogers, James 
B. Campbell, James M’Ewen, Jesse M. Jamieson 
and Joseph Porter, ministers, with their wives. 
It was his privilege to welcome them upon their 
landing, and to aid them in preparing for their 
inland journey. By this company three new sta- 


VOYAGE ON THE GANGES. 


31 


tions were occupied—Allahabad, at the junction 
of the Ganges and Jumna; Saharunpur, about 
one hundred and thirty miles south-east of Lo¬ 
diana ; and Sabathu, one hundred and ten miles 
to the north-east from the same place. 

The station at Allahabad was planted by 
M’Ewen in 1836, and a church of thirteen mem¬ 
bers was constituted the next January. “ Besides 
preaching, M’Ewen gave part of his time to the 
charge of schools, in which he was greatly as¬ 
sisted by his equally-devoted wife. But they 
were not permitted to continue long in those la¬ 
bors.” From loss of health M’Ewen was con¬ 
strained to leave India in 1838, and, as the sta¬ 
tion was too important to be unoccupied, Wilson 
came from Lodiana to take his place. 

At Calcutta, M’Ewen met a fourth company, 
consisting of three ministers, John H. Morrison, 
Henry B. Wilson and Joseph Caldwell, with 
James Craig, a teacher, and Beese Morris, a 
printer, with their wives. Mrs. Morrison died 
before leaving Calcutta. The others proceeded 
to various stations already planted—Morrison to 
Allahabad, to assist Wilson, Caldwell and Craig 
to Saharunpur, and Morris to Lodiana. H. B. 
Wilson on his way to Lodiana was induced to 
stop at Futtehghur, on the Ganges, two hundred 
miles above Allahabad. 


32 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


During the terrible famine which prevailed in 
the preceding year (1837) a number of destitute 
and starving children had been collected and pro¬ 
vided for at Futtehghur by Dr. Madden, a pious 
physician in the East India Company’s service. 
Captain Wheeler, also in the same neighborhood, 
had gathered a similar group of helpless outcasts, 
and earnestly wished to find some person to take 
charge of them who might be better qualified for 
the task than he thought himself to be. H. R. 
Wilson was applied to, and took up his residence 
at Futtehghur. There, with his interesting 
charge of orphan-children, and assisted by Go- 
pinath Nundy, a native teacher previously em¬ 
ployed in their instruction, he entered upon im¬ 
portant labors which, although doomed to a fear¬ 
ful interruption, have been steadily prosecuted by 
other hands. 

Five stations were now constituted, but still 
only feebly manned. A fifth company arrived 
in the spring of 1839, consisting of the Rev. 
Messrs. John E. Freeman, Joseph Warren and 
James L. Scott, with their wives, who were all 
assigned to the lower stations. Freeman and 
Warren remained at Allahabad, and Scott joined 
H. R. Wilson at Futtehghur. 

It was with no little pleasure that the mis¬ 
sionaries thus already on the ground heard of a 


VOYAGE ON THE GANGES. 


33 


new company on its way to join them. Accord¬ 
ing to orders received from the Board before 
leaving their native land, the members of that 
sixth company were proceeding—Joseph Owen to 
Allahabad, and M’Auley and Rankin and Miss 
Yanderveer to Futtehghur. 

Of the five stations, the most important, it was 
thought, were Lodiana and Allahabad, at the 
north-western and south-eastern extremities re¬ 
spectively of the field occupied. Lodiana was 
of importance as looking to the then unoccupied 
and independent Punjab, Allahabad as a central 
point in Northern India, an important business 
depot and a place of great resort for Hindu and 
Mohammedan pilgrims. 

In their voyage up the Ganges the missionaries 
availed themselves of every opportunity to learn 
the character and habits of the people, as well as 
to mark with interest the footsteps of preceding 
Christian enterprise. On the morning after 
leaving Calcutta, being Sunday, they anchored 
off Serampore, a place associated in their minds 
with the first Baptist mission to India. A thick 
fog prevented them from getting ashore in time 
to attend church in the forenoon, and they had 
service on the boat; but in the evening they 
went ashore, and were received with kindness by 
the missionaries. In compliance with an urgent 


34 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


invitation, they returned next morning and vis¬ 
ited the house in which Dr. Carey had lived, and 
other premises of the Baptist mission, and saw 
with especial interest their printing and publish¬ 
ing establishment, where their whole business 
of book making was carried on. But a sense of 
duty and a desire to be at their own field of la¬ 
bor caused the visit to be brief. 

The scenery through which they passed for a 
great distance Mr. Owen describes as exceedingly 
beautiful, as some creation of fancy might 
be—gardens, sumptuous residences, cultivated 
grounds and temples on the margin of the river 
among trees of richest verdure and animated by 
multitudes of people. But a nearer sight of the 
inhabitants was always of a nature to dispel en¬ 
chantment. One evening they fastened their 
budgerows by a sandy beach, and Owen, with 
M’Auley and Gopinath, went out on shore for a 
walk. At a short distance back from the river 
they came to a village, and while in the bazar 
they heard a loud singing and drumming at a 
distance. “ I had the curiosity/’ writes Mr. 
Owen, “ to see what it was. As we came near, 
Gopee could distinguish their words (they were 
Bengalee), and found that they were singing to 
the honor of one of their gods. It was a com¬ 
plete frolic, and looked more like what we would 



VOYAGE ON THE GANGES. 


35 


call a rowdy party than like anything connected 
with religion. I was glad to turn away from the 
unpleasant sight.” 

The journey up the river was slow—only from 
eight to twelve miles a day—and sometimes the 
boats were delayed for several hours, allowing 
walks of considerable length into the country. 
On one such occasion they stopped at the large 
village of Cain a. While the other missionaries 
went to purchase provisions Mr. Owen started 
out on a walk to see what was worth seeing. 
“ The dwellings were all of native construction, 
built of mud, and not a single European build¬ 
ing could be seen. On ascending the bank I 
observed some Hindu temples back of the vil¬ 
lage, and, determining to gratify my curiosity, 
went to them, although without any guide. I 
passed the thronged streets unmolested, every 
one giving way to the sahib. As I came near I 
found that the temples were within a high en¬ 
closure. On the outside was a large bazar 
crowded with people, but all gave way to me, 
and I passed along as though I was perfectly ac¬ 
quainted with them, their country and their lan¬ 
guage. I determined to see all I could and go 
on until I was stopped. After going back of the 
high white enclosure I came to a large pool of 
water in a grove, where many were bathing. A 


36 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE . 

little farther on was a temple perfectly round, 
but I could see no entrance. In a small yard 
near stood a camel, and at a short distance was a 
car on which were images of gods and carved 
horses. I now found an entrance to the large 
enclosure, and walked in. Here was a large and 
beautiful garden containing a great variety of 
flowers and laid out and kept with much care. 
These flowers are raised for the purpose of being 
carried into the temples and offered to the gods. 
I had a great desire to enter one of the temples, 
to see what was there. As I came to the door of 
one I met two men, and asked them if I might 
enter. Although I could not understand a word 
they said, I perceived they wished me not to go 
in. One of my feet was just over the threshold 
of the gate, but, as they seemed to remonstrate, 
I desisted. Gopee told me that had I gone in I 
would probably have lost my life, as they think 
their temples profaned by the footsteps of a sa¬ 
hib, and that they have a right, in such circum¬ 
stances, to kill him.” 

The missionaries were now coasting along the 
borders of Beerbhoom, the ancient Aryan land 
of heroes, a country which, after having suffered 
from ages of reckless despotism, had latterly been 
more than half desolated under the combined ca¬ 
lamities of famine and the ravages of banditti and 




VOYAGE ON THE GANGES. 


37 


of wild animals. Fifty years before, approach 
to the river's bank would have been made at the 
risk of life from the attacks of tigers, bears and 
wild elephants. Now, through the regularity and 
efficient protection of a wiser government, indus¬ 
try had prevailed over the wilderness. The 
jungle had again been reclaimed, the tigers ex¬ 
terminated and the elephants reduced to servi¬ 
tude. A rich and productive country and a 
peaceful population presented themselves on 
every side. Quietly industrious and patient, the 
peasantry seemed to be more disposed to dwell 
upon the observances and hopes of their religion 
than upon schemes of avarice or ambition. It 
seemed as if only the gospel was needed to put 
them in possession of the best popular elements 
of civilization.* 

On the 28th of January, the season for the 
worship of the goddess of Knowledge, the boats 
stopped in the evening at a large village called 
Jungipur, where there was an English station. 
Next morning, Mr. Owen, in company with Mr. 
M'Auley, walked into the village. “ Almost at 
every corner stood a small temple. The Hindu 
temples, so far as I have yet seen, are quite small. 
At length we came to a large garden the walks of 
which were paved, and on each was carved work 

* Hunter’s Annals of Rural Bengal. 


38 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


of stone of various kinds. We entered, and saw 
an exhibition of considerable taste in its plan and 
execution. We saw the image of the goddess of 
Knowledge, adorned with various kinds of trink¬ 
ets, fixed under a booth, with an image on each 
side of her, and before them were cast garlands 
of flowers in profusion as offerings from the de¬ 
luded people.” 

In the afternoon they went into the bazar to 
preach, and found a large concourse of natives 
full of bustle and engaged in various kinds of 
traffic. The duty of preaching was put upon 
Mr. Owen, and Modu Shodun acted as interpret¬ 
er. “ We took our station in the street before 
some of the shops, and soon had a crowd around 
us. Just as I was about commencing, a proces¬ 
sion came up, having two images of the goddess 
of Knowledge, beating drums, tom-toms and 
other noisy instruments, making ludicrous ges¬ 
tures, burning incense to the images, with two 
men holding umbrellas over their heads. All 
their actions had more the appearance of buf¬ 
foonery than of religious worship. In the 
strength of my Master I now commenced 
preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ in 
this stronghold of Satan, and to many souls who 
had undoubtedly never heard the precious gospel 
before. In general, good attention was given; 


VOYAGE ON THE GANGES. 


39 


but it is with the Lord to bless his truth. At 
the close I announced to them that we had some 
books which would give them more information 
about the Saviour of whom I had been preaching. 
There was then a great and general rush, and the 
books were almost torn from our hands. We gave 
away a large number of tracts and many Gospels, 
all in Bengalee Thus did we cast our bread upon 
the waters. 

“ Just as I had done preaching another proces¬ 
sion came up bearing the images that we had seen 
in the morning, to which they were burning in¬ 
cense, beating drums and blowing on musical in¬ 
struments, and making all the indecent gestures 
that accompanied the others. Soon another pro¬ 
cession with similar images and accompaniments 
followed, preceded by men on horses and followed 
by men on a large elephant, all painted in various 
ways and making horrible grimaces. It seemed, 
indeed, as if the wicked one had been let loose 
and was exerting his power without control. In 
the evening they brought the image of the god¬ 
dess down to the water with great ceremony, mu¬ 
sic, noise and confusion, and amid the firing of 
crackers and guns threw her into the sacred 
stream.” 

How the missionaries spent the Sabbath will 
appear from the following description: 


40 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


“We all assembled in our budgerow in the 
morning at ten, and had prayer and a short dis¬ 
course, and afterward reading of the Scriptures 
in Bengalee and prayer in Hindustanee by Go- 
pinath. In the afternoon Gopee assembled the 
men on the bank and read the Scriptures and 
talked to them. In the mean time, M’Auley 
and myself went with Modu to a village a short 
distance from us to preach and distribute books. 
We passed through a field where men were busy 
ploughing. When we arrived at the village, 
one of the first objects that met our eyes was 
a large tree worshiped by the natives, under 
which was an image of the wife of Siva, one of 
their gods. We passed on a little farther, and 
came to a shade where were some men winding 
yarn. Here we stationed ourselves, and Modu 
commenced reading a Bengalee tract to three or 
four men. Others, as they passed by, stopped to 
listen, and in a short time our assembly amount¬ 
ed to upward of twenty persons. I then com¬ 
menced preaching through my interpreter, telling 
of the nature of God, the fallen condition of 
man and what has been done for our redemption. 
After I had been proceeding for some time a man 
who had been listening with a contemptuous air 
and a sneering countenance, seeing another of 
some influence on horseback at a distance, went 


VOYAGE ON THE GANGES. 


41 


and brought him. He rode to us on his horse 
and began railing and ridiculing, and succeeded 
in disturbing us for a short time. Modu began 
to answer his objections, but I knew that in pres¬ 
ent circumstances that would be of no use, and 
directed him to return to interpreting for me. 
We proceeded, while the man continued his scof¬ 
fing. At length, finding that he was not no¬ 
ticed, he sat down and patiently listened to us. 
After I had done I went and gave him a copy 
of the Gospel of Mark and some tracts, which he 
readily received. He asked in a jeering way 
if we thought these books were going to make 
them Christians. 

“ After leaving this village we went a short 
distance to another, which was Mohammedan. 
Here we saw three or four men putting straw and 
other things around their cottages, and one of 
them, an old man, left his work to talk with us. 
A seat having been brought, I began conversa¬ 
tion with him, and asked him if he had ever 
heard of Jesus. He replied that many years ago 
a man came through their village and told the 
people something about him. I asked him if he 
believed that all men were sinners. He said he 
knew he himself was. I then explained to him, 
as well as I could through Modu, how he could 
be saved from the dreadful consequences of sin, 


42 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

and talked to him a long time, while he listened 
with much attention. We then gave him and 
others around him some books, and took our leave. 
In the evening we all met again in our budgerow 
for Bible class.” 

So far they had been sailing on the Hoogly, 
one of the outlets of the Ganges. Next day 
they entered the main river, and found a majes¬ 
tic sheet of water spread before them, pouring in 
a current broad, deep and strong all the collected 
tribute which the south side of the Himalaya 
pays to the ocean. On the evening of the suc¬ 
ceeding day they came in sight of the Bajmahal 
hills, the first hills they had seen since coming 
to India. Central Bengal is an unbroken plain, 
the deposit of the great river, which still irri¬ 
gates it with that network of veins by which its 
waters find their way to the sea. Although oc¬ 
casionally making an excursion on the shore 
when their boats were delayed and some hope 
of doing good or of obtaining useful information 
occurred, most of their time was spent in study 
with a view to preparation for their proper 
work. All were busy studying Hindustanee, 
with Gopinath as their teacher. They were fa¬ 
vored in many respects by having him with 
them. He knew how to manage the boatmen in¬ 
finitely better than they did, and his advice and 


VOYAGE ON THE GANGES. 


43 


services as an interpreter were continually useful. 
Thus occupied, and with their religious exercises 
among themselves, they moved on slowly through 
the desert country of Kajmahal. On Sunday, as 
usual, they fastened their boats to the shore and 
had both English and Bengalee services for them¬ 
selves and their servants. Nothing could be 
done on shore, for no habitations of men were 
near. 

Just as the morning services closed, it was an¬ 
nounced by one of the servants that a nabob was 
coming to see them. They immediately pre¬ 
pared to receive him, “and Gopee went and 
brought him in. Instead of a large man with 
a splendid retinue, as we expected, a boy of six¬ 
teen or seventeen entered, with but one servant 
following him. He was unable to speak a word 
of English ; we could talk with him only through 
an interpreter. His name was Prince Yasseen. 
His father and family are confined at Calcutta 
as prisoners by the English. He showed us a 
written permission which he had received to be 
absent from Calcutta three months for his health, 
and, as it was in our language, he wished us to 
tell him what was in it. We told him he was 
going beyond the distance specified, and advised 
him to return, but told him he need not travel 
any more until to-morrow. He immediately left 


44 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


us and went to his budgerow, and while I was 
waiting to have the necessary arrangements made 
for going to see him, to introduce the subject of 
Christianity to him, I found that he had gone. 
Poor creature! I suppose he thought we were 
Englishmen, and was afraid we would inform 
the government of his having gone so far.” 

It was in passing through that dreary part of 
the country, where there was nothing to be seen 
but a sandy desert and the Pajmahal hills in the 
distance, that the missionaries made their first ac¬ 
quaintance with the Hindu mela , or fair. “ Hun¬ 
dreds of people were collected on the banks of the 
Ganges from distant quarters, and here, having 
pitched their tents, were exposing for sale native 
articles of great variety. The clouds of dust 
that could be seen at a great distance directed us 
to the spot where they were; and when we arrived 
we found ourselves beneath a perpetual shower of 
sand, and it would not have been difficult to im¬ 
agine Bedlam and Babel united, confusion doubly 
confounded. The tents were formed by fastening 
bamboo poles in the ground, throwing cloth 
over them, and spreading a piece of cloth on the 
ground for a carpet, on which the articles for 
sale were laid. Everything to be seen was well 
covered with sand. I was soon satisfied and 
glad to return to my peaceful room in the boat.” 


VOYAGE ON THE GANGES. 


45 


At Monghir they were met by letters from 
Allahabad and from America by the overland 
mail, filling their hearts with joy. But the te¬ 
dious voyage became irksome to persons longing 
to be at the scene of their appointed labors. 

“ Feb . 26 .—Heavy winds with clouds of sand 
greatly impede our progress. These we are 
now to expect every day. The hot winds will 
soon come, and we are yet a long distance from 
Allahabad. We all begin to be much concerned. 
The boats move very slowly, and it is quite un¬ 
certain when we shall reach our journey’s end.” 

Having crossed the sandy waste and entered 
upon the productive lands of Central Bengal, on 
the 5th of March Mr. Owen writes: “We have 
for a few days past been traveling through a 
beautiful country. To-day we passed Patna, a 
large city highly celebrated, but, as the sun was 
shining warm, a fine breeze was wafting us on, 
and we were desirous of making all possible 
speed while the wind so favored us, we did not 
stop. I begin to stammer Hindustanee a little, 
and generally succeed in making myself under¬ 
stood by our servants and the boatmen. 

“ March 7, Dinapore .—This is the spot where 
the devoted Henry Martyn spent a considerable 
part of his missionary-life; here he translated 
the New Testament into the Hindustanee lan- 


46 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


guage. Last evening and this evening I walked 
with feelings of peculiar interest over the place 
made almost sacred by his having dwelt here. 
No wonder his righteous soul was vexed from 
day to day, for not only are the natives deplor¬ 
ably corrupt, but some of the Europeans are not 
much better. My feelings were harrowed at the 
disgraceful conduct of three or four Englishmen 
at the ghaut this evening. No wonder Martyn 
exclaimed, ‘ Why do the heathen rage, and the 
English people imagine a vain thing V Some of 
the greatest obstacles to the spread of the gospel 
arise from the conduct of those whom the natives 
regard as Christians.” 

Walking on the bank of the river, Mr. Owen 
was overtaken by a European indigo-planter 
who seemed desirous of forming his acquaint¬ 
ance. “ He asked me if I was passing up the 
river. I replied in the affirmative, and that I 
stopped to spend the Sabbath. ‘ Let me see,’ 
said he; ‘ it is Sunday, isn’t it ? Do you always 
stop so on Sundays ?’—‘ We do, sir,’ said I.— 4 But 
suppose you have a good wind, would you not go 
on ?’— 4 No, sir.’—‘ Ought you not to take advan¬ 
tage of the blessing God gives us?’—'Certainly, 
and the Sabbath is one of his blessings, and we 
take advantage of it.’ He then turned the con¬ 
versation to some other subject; and when I was 


VOYAGE ON THE GANGES. 


47 


about to leave, he insisted that I should come and 
spend the day with him. I told him that I had 
company with me at the boat. He said they 
must all come too, and that he needed spiritual 
advice as well as others, for he had not been in¬ 
side of a church in a long time. I tried to de¬ 
cline, but he insisted, and added that he would 
send a palankeen for Mrs. M’Auley, and accom¬ 
panied me to the boat to get an answer; 
having received one in the affirmative, he in a 
few minutes had a palankeen sent to us, together 
with a dish of strawberries, flowers, etc. The 
wind blew very hard soon after we went, and the 
sand flew in such quantities as almost to suffocate 
us. We were, however, sheltered, and spent the 
day more pleasantly, in several respects, than we 
could have done in the budgerow. 

“The gentleman had his family assembled, 
and invited us to conduct worship. It was an 
opportunity of doing good for which we felt 
truly thankful. He would not allow us to leave 
before evening, and perhaps it would have been 
imprudent for us to do so. We therefore had 
opportunity for religious conversation which I 
pray may be followed by the divine blessing. 
When we left, he and his family accompanied us 
to the boat. He afterward sent us several things 
to contribute to our comfort.” 


48 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


At Benares, Mr. Owen left the boats and his 
companions for the purpose of visiting the Brit¬ 
ish missionaries stationed in that city. The day 
was profitably and pleasantly spent in hearing 
of their methods of instruction, inspecting their 
schools and in social intercourse. 

Early next morning a carriage and horses 
were ready to carry him on his way to overtake 
the boats, and his drive of seventeen miles was 
peculiarly pleasant. “ The mild coolness of the 
air, the brilliancy of the sky and the stillness of 
everything around invited to meditation. Few 
living objects were seen but some camels and 
cows accompanied by their drivers. Daylight 
seemed to come very soon and break the delight¬ 
ful chain of reflections in which I had been en¬ 
gaged. I reached Chunar a little after sunrise, 
and found the boats all safely anchored there.” 

At last, on the 5th of April—just eight 
months from the day of their leaving Boston— 
the missionaries came in sight of Allahabad, and 
of the British colors flying over its fort. Next 
morning they started early, but had not pro¬ 
ceeded far when they were met by Mr. Warren, 
who came down in a small boat to meet them. 
At the ghaut , or landing, Mr. Owen found his 
old friend and classmate John E. Freeman wait¬ 
ing to welcome him, and received a warm Amer- 


VOYAGE ON THE GANGES. 


49 


ican grasp of the hand. Mr. Morrison had left 
Allahabad on the 1st of January, on his way to 
Saharunpur, whence after a short residence he 
proceeded to Simla. 

“ How pleasant it was to find an asylum from 
the heat and fatigue of these last three months, 
to get on American premises and to meet with 
American faces! What a relief from the cramp¬ 
ing, smothering, suffocating, scorching and bak¬ 
ing which we have been obliged to endure in the 
budgerow! I think my poor sinful heart does 
feel grateful for the goodness of my heavenly 
Father in bringing me through this long jour¬ 
ney in so much mercy and safety. Arrange¬ 
ments have been made for me to live with broth¬ 
er Freeman, and I am now sitting in the room 
that has been assigned to me. The doors are 
open, and I have a lovely prospect by moonlight 
up and down the river.” 

4 


CHAPTER IV. 


ALLAHABAD.—ITS RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. —MIS¬ 
SION STATION. —PRELIMINARY WORK OF THE 
MISSIONARY. 

rjIHE junction of tlie Ganges and the Jumna 
has from ancient times been regarded as one 
of the holiest places in India. Prayaga, a Hindu 
city of great extent and beauty, the capital of an 
independent kingdom, once stood on the penin¬ 
sula between those two rivers, but time and neg¬ 
lect and, worse than all, the devastations of war 
have left nothing of it but ruins. Upon a part 
of its site and over the remains of its structures 
of brick arose a later city of mud to which the 
Mohammedan emperor Akbar gave the name of 
Allahabad, the “city of God.” Under British 
rule it is the capital of a district and province 
of the same name. It is fifty-three miles up the 
river from Benares and five hundred and fifty 
directly from Calcutta, or, by the river, eight 
hundred, situated in t 25° 27' N. lat., 81° 5CK E. 
long., at the centre of the great plain of India. 
From the lower course of the Brahmaputra to 

50 


ALLAHABAD. 


5i 


the Indus is about fifteen hundred miles, and 
from the foothills of the Himalaya to the high 
table-land of Central India in one direction and 
to the sea in another is a breadth of from three 
hundred to five hundred miles. On that vast 
plain Allahabad stands, about six hundred and 
fifty miles from the eastern extremity and about 
one hundred and seventy from the foot of the 
northward mountains. 

The district of Allahabad is very fertile, but 
not much more than one-third of its area is 
under culture. Its population in 1840 amounted 
to over 774,000, in 39,083 villages. Of that pop¬ 
ulation, 651,877 were Hindus and 122,512 Mo¬ 
hammedans. Of the city the population was 
65,046, divided between 21,031 Mohammedans 
and 44,015 Hindus. An extensive and strong 
fortification stood on the tongue of land between 
the Ganges and the Jumna, completely command¬ 
ing the navigation of both rivers. The city now 
contains a permanent judicial establishment, 
whence periodical circuits are made through 
the province. 

The ground on which the city stands is consid¬ 
ered by the Brahmans one of the holiest places 
in India—the most holy of all river-confluences. 
Multitudes of pilgrims annually visit it in the 
hope of earning merit thereby. As many as 


52 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


two hundred thousand have been known to ar¬ 
rive there, from religious motives, in one year, to 
bathe in the sacred waters at that sacred spot 
being recommended to them by their sacerdo¬ 
tal guides as of eminent religious merit. 

For all these reasons Allahabad was early in the 
history of Presbyterian missions in India selected 
as one of the most important stations. The Rev. 
Mr. M’Ewen, who commenced there in 1836, was 
constrained by ill-health to abandon it two years 
afterward, but his place was immediately supplied 
by the Rev. James Wilson, sustained by the ar¬ 
rival of Mr. Morrison within a few weeks, and 
next year by Messrs. Freeman and Warren. At 
the time of Mr. Owen’s arrival three missionary 
ministers were there, Mr. Morrison having been 
removed to another station. The methods by 
which they prosecuted their work were, preach¬ 
ing in their own chapel for native Christians, 
and in the bazars and melas which at stated sea¬ 
sons met by the river in their neighborhood, 
teaching the native children and distributing 
books and tracts, and by endeavoring to live in 
such a way as to recommend their gospel mes¬ 
sage ; and at proper seasons in the year mission¬ 
ary-tours were made with the purpose of preach¬ 
ing and distributing books and conversing with 
the people in the adjoining country. 


ALLAHABAD. 


53 


Next morning Mr. Owen commenced his stud¬ 
ies with the moonshee —that is, his Hindustanee 
teacher—whom he describes as a large black 
man dressed in white, with a white turban on 
his head and long black hair hanging over his 
shoulders. “ He took his seat by my side to 
hear me read, and to assist me in giving utter¬ 
ance to some of the roughest sounds ever heard 
from a human throat. With him I am to spend 
several hours each day for a long time before I 
can do much good to the dying souls around me.” 
When Mr. Owen showed him a copy of the Ko¬ 
ran which he had brought with him from Amer¬ 
ica, as a Mohammedan he was greatly pleased, 
and remarked that it was beautifully written, not 
conceiving that it had ever been desecrated by 
print. An arrangement was made between them 
to read a portion in it daily. Mr. Owen had 
read the whole of it, with his American pronun¬ 
ciation, before leaving home. 

That evening the missionaries of the station 
held, together with their newly-arrived friends, 
a meeting for prayer and thanksgiving to God 
for his care of the latter during their long and 
tedious journey. On the following Sabbath they 
joined the native Christians in celebrating the 
Lord’s Supper. “ Before the distribution of the 
bread and wine, Brother Wilson, who was 


54 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


preaching, turned and addressed a few words to 
us who had recently escaped the perils of the 
deep and of the long journey up the Ganges, re¬ 
minding us of how fit an occasion it was for 
thanksgiving and renewed dedication of our¬ 
selves to the service of our Saviour, and what a 
privilege it was to unite with those dear people 
who not long ago were degraded idolaters. I felt 
that it was indeed good to be here. Delightful 
the thought that, however different Christians 
may be with regard to country, complexion or 
manners, we are all one in Christ! Could Amer¬ 
ican Christians see what I saw to-day, how could 
any of them withhold their efforts for the conver¬ 
sion of the heathen ? How delightful will it be 
to meet in heaven souls brought there through 
our instrumentality! This evening I preached 
in the English Presbyterian church.” 

Allahabad, being an important post of the 
East India Company’s government, contained a 
considerable number of British residents. For 
their benefit there were English services on the 
Sabbath, and persons of Presbyterian persuasion 
worshiped with the American missionaries. Ac¬ 
cordingly, there was work to be done in the Eng¬ 
lish language, and the missionary was not neces¬ 
sarily silent until he had learned Hindustanee. 
He early became a useful member of the mission 


ALLAHABAD. 


55 


by teaching in the school a class of boys already 
acquainted with English. The morning with his 
moonshee , the afternoon with his class and assist¬ 
ing in the frequent religious services in English 
belonging to the station and among the British 
residents, fully occupied his time. He also took 
such part as lie could in occasional services 
among the Hindu people. 

But the fervor of the climate had also to be 
borne. It was the 1st of June when Mr. Owen 
wrote as follows: 

“ We have been scorching for two months ; the 
ground is dry and baked hard, and scarcely a 
blade of grass is to be seen anywhere; the air is 
hot, and feels, every evening when we go out, as 
if the atmosphere had been burning all day like 
an immense oven; and when morning’s dawn 
comes after the shades of a whole night have 
been resting upon the earth, scarcely any fresh¬ 
ness seems to have been gained. 

“ When I attempt to preach here, I scarcely 
feel like the same person I was in America. All 
my vigor appears to be gone, and I can hardly 
make any exertion. One can have no idea of the 
weakening and prostrating tendency of this cli¬ 
mate without experience. 

“ July 14 .—This morning I had a call from a 
young Brahman who seemed quite interested in 


56 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


the study of geography and was desirous of see¬ 
ing a map, and especially one of Hindustan. I 
gave him a tract entitled Nicodemus; or, The 
Inquirer, written by Mr. Wilson of this mis¬ 
sion. I had seen him some weeks ago, and had 
given him a copy of the Psalms in Sanskrit, 
with which he this morning expressed himself 
very well pleased. I read to him the first few 
verses of Genesis. He is acquainted with the 
Sanskrit language, and a great reader of Hindu 
books. I endeavored, with as much of the Hin- 
dustanee language as I could command, to direct 
him to Jesus as the only Saviour. 

“July 20 .—This morning we found that the 
Jumna had risen several feet during the night, 
and was rolling past our house with great veloc¬ 
ity. The air is now very damp and the weather 
unhealthy. Much sickness prevails. Many of 
the natives are dying of cholera. 

“Sept. 2. —An interesting young man from 
Cabul has recently come, and we have engaged 
him to remain with us. He is very desirous of 
learning the English language, which I am to 
teach him, while he teaches me Persian. He 
speaks the Persian as his mother-tongue. I now 
spend three or four hours a day with him. His 
mind is in a very interesting state with regard to 
religion. He unhesitatingly avows his disbelief 


ALLAHABAD. 


57 


in Mohammedanism, the religion in which he 
was trained, and declares his belief in Chris¬ 
tianity, and he often takes occasion to speak 
his views and feelings. 

“ Sept. 30 .—Last evening we met in the church 
for the purpose of constituting the Presbytery 
of Allahabad. Brother Wilson, being the oldest 
member of the mission, according to the direc¬ 
tion of the General Assembly, preached the ser¬ 
mon from 1 Tim. iv. 14, and after the services 
constituted the Presbytery with prayer, and pre¬ 
sided until a moderator was chosen.” He was 
himself chosen moderator, and Mr. Owen stated 
clerk. 

“ Oct. 3 , Sabbath .—Administered the sacra¬ 
ment of the Lord’s Supper this evening, and 
felt much assistance and freedom. Thanks to 
my heavenly Father for his rich mercies! Oh, 
may I ever maintain a close walk with him 
and live under the constant light of his coun¬ 
tenance! 

“ Oct. 12 .—Last evening we met with the chap¬ 
lain and some of the pious civilians and their 
wives for prayer and conversation on missionary* 
subjects. This is designed to be a regular meet¬ 
ing, on the second Monday evening of every 
month. The chaplain is a very pious man, and 
disposed to be quite friendly with us. The civil- 


58 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


ians with whom we met are also our warm friends, 
and show us much kindness. 

“Oct. 15 .—The rains have long since ceased; 
the ground has become dry; the crops have 
nearly ripened, and the cold season is fast ap¬ 
proaching. The poor natives are now very busy 
day and night in watching their grain, protect¬ 
ing it from the depredations of cattle and birds. 
Only gardens and spots of ground designed to 
be kept with special care are enclosed. The en¬ 
closures consist generally of mud walls—some¬ 
times, of brick. As the grain is sown very thick 
and grows very high, it is'necessary that those 
watching it should have an elevated position, to 
enable them to survey the field in every di¬ 
rection. To effect this, a few poles are fixed in 
the ground, which are made to support a rudely- 
constructed platform, on which they remain sta¬ 
tioned, protected by a slight covering overhead 
from the sun by day and the dampness by night, 
and making free use of their slings or bows and 
arrows. When I ride out early in the morning, 
a hundred shrill voices may be heard driving 
‘away the immense flocks of parrots, which are 
exceedingly destructive to the grain. 

“This is usually considered the most un¬ 
healthy season of the year. Fevers are very 
prevalent. I have had a slight attack, and have 


ALLAHABAD. 


59 


been feverish most of the time for two or three 
weeks. Life is very uncertain in this climate. 
Some have recently been suddenly cut down. 
Peculiarly applicable here is the admonition, ‘ Be 
ye also ready.’ ” 

Soon after penning these words he was himself 
laid upon a bed of sickness, to which he was con¬ 
fined several weeks. About the middle of No¬ 
vember, and before he had entirely recovered, he 
set out with Mr. Wilson on a missionary-tour 
through parts of the Doab and Bundelcund dis¬ 
tricts. He returned to Allahabad soon after the 
beginning of January greatly improved in health 
and equipped with valuable experience for an¬ 
other part of evangelical labor. 

From the report of the Allahabad mission 
made for the year closing October 1, 1841, we 
learn of the work in which the missionaries were 
there engaged. Mr. Warren superintended the 
press and conducted its complicated correspond¬ 
ence while studying the native languages, preach¬ 
ing in Hindustanee to a small congregation in a 
room of the printing-office, and occasionally in 
English. Mr. Freeman managed the business of 
bookbinding, conducted the orphan school for 
boys, a Hindustanee Bible-class and Sunday- 
school, with occasional preaching in English, 
study of the native languages, superintendency 


60 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


of buildings, etc. Mr. Wilson, at that time the 
best versed in the language, was employed in 
revising and translating portions of the Old 
Testament in Hindustanee, correcting proofs for 
the press, preaching to the native church, preach¬ 
ing in the bazars, superintending bazar schools, 
and in occasional English preaching. Mr. Owen’s 
time was given chiefly to diligent study of the na¬ 
tive languages, to teaching in the school, preach¬ 
ing in English and going to the bazar with a native 
assistant. His knowledge of Hindi and Hindu¬ 
stanee he was building up with great care upon 
a broad and deep foundation in the Sanskrit, Ar¬ 
abic and Persian—a knowledge which subse¬ 
quently did him valuable service in argument 
with learned Brahmans and Mohammedans. 

The missionaries conducted two English serv¬ 
ices every Sabbath, one in the morning and one 
in the evening, the former generally being thin¬ 
ly attended and the latter very well, averaging 
about thirty persons. Monthly concert of prayer 
was regularly observed, conducted alternately by 
Mr. MTntosh of the Baptist mission and the Bev. 
J. Wilson. They had built a neat and commodi¬ 
ous chapel on one side of the public square in the 
centre of the native city, where Mr. Wilson at¬ 
tended and preached once a week, and sometimes 
oftener, and there also Mr. MTntosh and Mr. 


ALLAHABAD. 


61 


Owen, with native assistants, each ministered 
once a week. 

Besides their regular stated work, they all 
went out, as circumstances directed, to the land¬ 
ings on the river and other places of concourse 
to converse with whomsoever they found acces¬ 
sible. 

Seven bazar schools were kept up, two at the 
expense of the mission, in which the attendance 
had averaged in the course of the year twenty in 
one and twenty-five in the other. Two were sup¬ 
ported by Mr. Montgomery, the English magis¬ 
trate, averaging from sixteen to twenty, and three 
were supported by Mr. Fraser, an English resi¬ 
dent, in which the average attendance was from 
twelve to sixteen. Mr. Fraser and some other 
friends of the mission had built a house for one 
of the schools, which served also the purpose of 
a chapel, in a small bazar. 

The children while assembled in those schools 
were chiefly engaged in reading the Gospels and 
tracts and other elementary books which the 
missionaries had prepared, but, as they were all 
taught by Hindus and Mussulmans, the teachers 
embraced every opportunity to substitute their 
own books when they could without detection, 
and the parents would often take the children 
away as soon as they were able to earn a few 


62 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


pice by any other means. Such schools had not 
met expectation, but were continued in hope, be¬ 
cause it was found that children who attended 
did carry away with them and circulate in their 
measure some acquaintance with Christianity, 
which, taking its part in leavening society, might 
facilitate future labors. Latterly some of those 
children had begun to come with their teachers 
to the Hindustanee worship on the Sabbath. 

Also to two natives, Patras and Simeon, the 
missionaries express their obligations for valu¬ 
able assistance. 

A plan was about the same time proposed for 
the erection of an English school in which Euro¬ 
pean science should be connected with religious 
instruction. The missionaries express themselves 
as not very sanguine about its immediate success, 
yet with confidence in its ultimate benefits, and 
add, “ The more we see of India, of the work to 
be done and of the materials with which it has 
to be done, the more strongly are our hopes di¬ 
rected to good English schools—schools in which 
a thorough English education, along with a good 
education in the vernacular, will be given—as the 
nurseries in which the only native ministry that 
deserves the name must be reared. It will be at 
best a dwarfish ministry—a mere secondary aux¬ 
iliary force—that will for many generations to 


ALLAHABAD. 


63 


come be gathered from among those who have 
merely a native education and a little Christian 
training.” Mention is made of the great results 
of the plan adopted by the East India Company 
in educating young natives in thorough Euro¬ 
pean military tactics, and the question is asked, 
“ May not the same amount of wisdom and skill, 
vigorously employed in drilling the native agency 
which is to labor in the moral renovation of In¬ 
dia, in due time produce equal results?” 

About the same time to which the above refers 
—that is, the summer of 1841—the First Pres¬ 
byterian Church of Albany, New York, pro¬ 
cured and presented to the Board of Foreign 
Missions a philosophical apparatus for the high 
school at Allahabad. 

The young man from Afghanistan mentioned 
by Mr. Owen was Dost Mohammed, son of an 
ameer in the service of a brother of the reign¬ 
ing king at Cabul, Shah Sujah. While studying 
English with Mr. Owen and teaching him Per¬ 
sian he often turned the conversation to the sub¬ 
ject of Christianity, and in a short time declared 
his purpose to embrace its faith. He wrote to 
his father to inform him of the change in his 
convictions. Several letters were exchanged be¬ 
tween them, in the course of which the father 
expressed his displeasure, and finally broke off 


64 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE . 


the correspondence. The young man seemed to 
be greatly distressed, but adhered to his profes¬ 
sion of faith, and entered into missionary-work 
as an assistant. He would often go with Mr. 
Owen or Mr. Wilson to the bazar and take up 
the argument with .Mohammedans, appealing to 
their own experience and using his practical 
knowledge of their religion with great effect. 

From the mission press at Allahabad there 
had issued already upward of 73,000 copies of 
various works, amounting to 3,346,880 pages, 
and the books of Genesis, Exodus, Psalms, Prov¬ 
erbs, Matthew and John, in Hindustanee, had 
been revised and in part translated, and four 
original tracts, two in Hindustanee and two in 
Hindi, had been prepared by Mr. Wilson. 

In that year, which was the first in the history 
of the fully-organized mission, the missionaries 
counted to Allahabad were five married minis¬ 
ters, with their wives, and the Bev. Joseph 
Owen. But one of the five at the date of the 
report was still on his way from America, and 
one, on account of feeble health, had from the 
month of January been absent in the hill-coun¬ 
try, at Sabathu. 

At Lodiana, the original station, only three 
ministers and a printer, with their wives, and a 
native catechist, had done the work of the mis- 


ALLAHABAD. 


65 


sion; one who was counted in the report had not 
then arrived. To Sabathu there belonged only 
one minister and his wife; to Saharunpur, one 
married minister and one teacher, with their 
wives, and one unmarried minister and one cate¬ 
chist. This station had its ecclesiastical connec¬ 
tion with the Reformed Presbyterian Church. 

In the Furruckabad mission only Futtehghur 
was yet occupied, and there four ministers, with 
their wives, were employed, together with one 
teacher, one native catechist and one native as¬ 
sistant. 

The nature of the work was, with the excep¬ 
tion of printing, the same at all the stations, con¬ 
sisting of preaching at regular appointed places, 
conversation with the people, distributing books, 
teaching in the native and English languages, 
reading of the Scriptures and worship with the 
pupils who chose to attend, conducting boarding- 
schools for orphans, translating the Scriptures 
and religious books and tracts, and in itinerating 
for preaching, conversation and distributing books 
generally over the country. 

Lodiana and Allahabad were the printing sta¬ 
tions. At the former nearly 60,000 copies of 
books had been issued, making 2,240,000 pages, 
in the Hindustanee and Punjabi languages. 

All these stations excepting Saharunpur were 

5 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


organized into one body as the Synod of North¬ 
ern India, consisting of the three Presbyteries 
of Lodiana, Furruckabad and Allahabad. 

In March, 1842, Mr. and Mrs. Levi Janvier, 
on their way from Calcutta to Allahabad, were 
met by Mr. Owen at Benares; they were accom¬ 
panied by the Bev. J. Bay and his wife. For a 
time four of the former members of the Phila¬ 
delphian society at Princeton were fellow-presby¬ 
ters of the Allahabad mission. Mr. Morrison 
meanwhile was residing at Simla and pursuing 
work as his health would admit, and, as Jan¬ 
vier’s final destination was Lodiana, his residence 
at Allahabad was brief. 


CHAPTER Y. 


POPULA TION, LANG UA GES AND REL1GI0 US CHANGES 
IN UPPER INDIA , AND THE RELATIONS OF THE 
PRESBYTERIAN MISSION THERETO. 

rjIHE part of the great valley of Upper India 
lying westward from Allahabad which Manu 
calls the “ Middle Land” is the purest settlement 
of the Aryan race east of the Punjab. It was 
there that the Brahmanical religion developed 
most consistently in all its rites, laws and caste- 
distinctions. One of the best authorities on the 
subject asserts that it is the only province of 
India to the social condition of which the laws 
of Manu accurately apply. Elsewhere a large 
part of the population consists of non-Aryan 
aboriginal tribes or is of mixed descent and prac¬ 
tices a great diversity of religious rites. Aryan 
purity of blood and Brahmanical sacerdotalism, 
with its peculiar system of religion, maintained 
their proudest integrity in the “ Middle Land.” 
Caste, which in some other quarters is the dis¬ 
tinction between victor and vanquished, was 
there the fruit of a peaceful development of 

67 


68 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


privilege among a homogeneous people and an 
object of attachment to the lowest as to the high¬ 
est, for to have place in even a humble caste was 
unspeakably better than to have no caste, and 
Hindu religion was so far superior to the miser¬ 
able superstitions of the aboriginal tribes that it 
was also an honorable distinction. 

Allahabad also stands within the country where, 
in the sixth century b. c., Buddhism arose and es¬ 
tablished its first dominion, and from which it was 
long subsequently expelled by reviving Brahman¬ 
ism. In the course of the twelfth century of the 
Christian era that Hindu integrity was invaded 
by the Mohammedans, who, planting the seat of 
their rule in the Punjab, ultimately extended 
their authority over the whole land. The Hin¬ 
dus, though subdued to foreign allegiance, re¬ 
tained their religious and social practices, and 
the more tenaciously that those practices now be¬ 
came the badge of an endangered ethnic integrity. 
As their Brahmanical system had formerly been 
the color of their superiority to the aborigines 
whom they had subdued or expelled, so now it 
organized their resistance to a foreign faith, 
maintained their ethnic identity and secured for 
them a united, and thereby a respectable, position 
amid the multitude of their invaders. The su¬ 
periority of Mohammedanism as a religion to 


ETHNIC CHARACTER OF UPPER INDIA. 69 

Hinduism is obvious, and yet it never made 
much progress in converting the Hindu people. 
Of all the religions of India, that which grew 
up on the “ Middle Land” has proved most tena¬ 
cious of its hold upon the Hindu mind. Buddh¬ 
ism in its early prime contended successfully 
with Brahmanism, but was ultimately overcome. 
The tide of Mohammedanism poured in, sub¬ 
dued the people and possessed the land, but 
Brahmanism remained unshaken. The polythe¬ 
ism of the conquered was still holding its place 
side by side with the unitarianism of the conquer¬ 
ors when the European merchants arrived. By 
them it was treated with a cautious, almost timid, 
respect. And now, in the settlement of the Amer¬ 
ican missions, Christianity has undertaken what 
Buddhism and Mohammedanism have success¬ 
ively failed in. It may fairly be considered an 
arduous undertaking. Divine grace is no doubt 
equal to the difficulty, but divine grace did not 
overcome the polytheism of the Boman empire 
in less than three hundred years, and that poly¬ 
theism was then a far less compacted system than 
Brahmanism was fifty years ago. Since the es¬ 
tablishment of the British government in that 
country the Mohammedan and Hindu popu¬ 
lations live side by side in the enjoyment of 
equal religious freedom, the latter resting upon 


70 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

the basis of national prejudice and affection, the 
former upon the pride of earlier lordship. 

The American Presbyterian missions are 
planted among Hindus of the purest Aryan des¬ 
cent, and on the headquarters of the once power¬ 
ful Mongul empire and where Mohammedans 
still form a large part of the population. Con¬ 
sequently, two languages were to be acquired 
and two entirely different religions encountered 
by the missionaries, Mohammedanism being the 
worship of one God in one person without any 
sensible form, and Hinduism the idolatry of le¬ 
gions of gods under various forms, the worship 
of the one being simple prayer and praise, that 
of the latter ceremonial in the extreme. The 
two languages are the Hindi and the Urdu, or 
Hindustanee. The former—a modern descend¬ 
ant of the Sanskrit which clings closely to its 
ancestor in the substance of its words, with char¬ 
acteristic changes in form—is the favorite literary 
language of the Hindus. Hindustanee is spoken 
in addition to their local dialect by almost all na¬ 
tives in the northern and central provinces. It 
appears to have been formed out of the Braja 
Bhaka, a Sanskrit language spoken on the banks 
of the Jumna, and the Prakrit, belonging to the 
extensive empire of which Kanouj was the capi¬ 
tal, and after the Mohammedan invasion inter- 


ETHNIC CHARACTER OF UPPER INDIA. 71 

mingled with elements of Arabic and Persian. 
The invaders called it Urdu-Zaban—the “ camp 
language”—and it was cultivated to its greatest 
purity at the chief seats of Mohammedan power 
in Delhi and Agra, but also latterly at Lucknow. 

By the beginning of the second year of his 
residence in Allahabad, Mr. Owen had so far 
mastered this most commonly spoken tongue as 
to use it with ease in conversation and preaching. 
Early in August, 1842, he was again prostrated 
by fever. When recovering, partly from desire 
to engage as soon as possible in such work as he 
was able to do and partly with a view to strength¬ 
en his health, he undertook, in company with 
Mr. and Mrs. Freeman, a missionary-tour in a 
boat up the Ganges. “ At Karra, thirty-six 
miles from Allahabad in a direct line, but much 
more by the river, we had the boat drawn up into 
a little cove, and stopped for the night. While 
making this movement we passed under a very 
high bank a vast heap of ruins so cut away by 
the Ganges that bricks and other remnants of 
ancient buildings were exposed to view forty or 
fifty feet below the surface. Karra is but a heap 
of ruins as far as the eye can reach from this 
bank. When the great city whose remains we 
see here was flourishing, I do not know that any¬ 
body can tell; certainly the date must extend back 


72 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE . 

many centuries. A small town now stands in the 
midst of the desolation.” 

As is the missionary practice, wherever the op¬ 
portunity offered he went into the bazar to preach. 
A large number were assembled, and, aided by 
Simeon, a native assistant, he continued to pro¬ 
claim to them the gospel as long as his strength 
would allow. Next morning he rose early and 
walked into the great burying-ground for which 
Karra is celebrated. “ It is truly an immense 
city of the dead. It appears to be about a mile 
wide and from two to three miles long. Its whole 
appearance gives evidence that it is the work of 
an age long gone by. When the generations 
whose dust lies here were on the stage of life 
it is difficult to say. One thing is certain—that 
they were all Mohammedans, for the Hindus 
never bury their dead, while the Mohammedans 
do so always. The structure of the tombs is also 
in Mohammedan style. The common grave is 
designated by an elevation of mason-work con¬ 
structed of brick and mortar, either round or 
flat on the top. Where a family is interred a 
platform of brick and mortar is placed over the 
whole, and from this tumuli are elevated for the 
individuals respectively whose remains lie be¬ 
neath. The higher classes have buildings of 
different sizes, according to their wealth and 


ETHNIC CHARACTER OF UPPER INDIA. 73 


rank, erected oyer them; those over the nobles 
and princes are set up with great expense and 
splendor. Tombs of all these varieties are to be 
seen in this vast cemetery, but those of the rich 
as well as of the poor are crumbling to ruins. 
The piles are falling down, the bricks are scat¬ 
tered about, and many of the sepulchres have 
been almost undermined and washed away by 
the floods formed during the rains. The whole 
is a dismal sight. Here was once a large, wealthy 
and splendid city, but all that now remains of it 
is this scene of gloomy desolation. Probably 
very few, if any, of the names of those whose 
ashes lie here are now known.” 

As the missionaries were unable to proceed on 
their way because of the strong opposing wind 
and rapid stream, Mr. Owen returned in the 
evening to preach in the bazar. “ A man stood 
near and attempted to interrupt me by asking 
questions. He evidently cared very little about 
what he said, his design being to defeat my pur¬ 
pose, but, as some of the questions were import¬ 
ant in themselves and helped me to state some 
points more explicitly than I otherwise might 
have done, I answered them in my discourse to 
the people. Other questions, which were trivial, 
I did not notice. When I had done, some at¬ 
tempted to hoot at me, but others treated me 


74 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


with politeness and followed me to the boat for 
books. How much love, forbearance and faith a 
missionary needs for his work!” 

Of the willingness of the people to receive 
books he remarks that a principal motive is 
“very likely curiosity and that desire which is 
so prominent a feature of the Hindu character 
to take eagerly anything of value which costs 
them nothing. But He whose word is contained 
in these little volumes is able to bless it abun¬ 
dantly to the destruction of Satan’s kingdom and 
the building up of his own. May he in mercy 
do so to the salvation of these precious souls and 
the glory of his great name!” 

On another occasion when Mr. Owen was 
preaching in a village a Brahman attempted to 
interrupt him by disputation, and to confound 
him by repeating a string of words from the 
Shasters which Mr. Owen was confident he did 
not understand. “ I told him that it was very 
unprofitable and foolish to stand there reciting 
words which neither he nor those around him 
knew the meaning of, and, opening the Gospel 
of John at the third chapter, said, ‘ Here is some¬ 
thing from the true shasters, the word of God, 
which is designed for all, not for Brahmans only, 
and which all may understand.’ As I read I 
asked the people whether it was not plain and 


ETHNIC CHARACTER OF UPPER INDIA. 75 


intelligible, and all assented tliat it was. I took 
occasion to remark how like the Pharisees of old 
the Brahmans are, and that these are as ignorant 
of the nature of the new birth as Nicodemus was. 
I read and explained as far as the sixteenth verse, 
and all listened very attentively. The Brahman 
said not a word in reply, and after I had done 
he quietly walked away.” 

During the greater part of the month of Sep¬ 
tember, Mr. Owen was laid up with fever and 
ague contracted in ascending the river. In that 
condition he stopped at Cawnpore, where he found 
a kind host in the Bev. Mr. Perkins, a missionary 
of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel 
in Foreign Parts, to whose medical skill he owed 
his recovery.* 

On the 25th of September—a delightful Sab¬ 
bath morning—he is again seated in his little 
room in the boat, writing. “We are far away 
from any church, spending the Sabbath on the 
shore of the Ganges about thirty miles below 
Futtehghur. The day without is beautiful, but 
a little too hot to be comfortable, even to us who 
are in the shade of the thatched roof of the 
boat. The sun is shining brightly, the westerly 
wind is moving briskly, birds of great variety 
are singing, the country is covered with a rich 

* Foreign Missionary Chronicle, vol. xi. p. 240. 


76 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


deep verdure, the early crops are hastening to 
maturity, and all nature speaks the praises of a 
beneficent God. But, alas! ‘man is vile.’ The 
poor boatmen who are with us are in gross dark¬ 
ness, and all whom we meet, either on the river 
or on land, are in the same deplorable condition. 
They like very well—at least, those in our em¬ 
ploy do—the bodily rest which the Sabbath af¬ 
fords them, and, I am thankful to say, are atten¬ 
tive to the instructions they receive from us.” 

About the beginning of October he arrived at 
Futtehghur, where he met with and enjoyed the 
hospitality of friends in whose company he had 
made the voyage to India. Mr. Rankin was his 
host; Mr. and Mrs. Janvier were there, Mr. Scott 
he had also known in America, and the other 
American members of that mission were Mr. 
and Mrs. H. It. Wilson. Among them he had 
a variety of occupations, but chiefly preaching 
in Urdu and Hindi—in the former to the or¬ 
phan schools and others who composed the na¬ 
tive congregation, and in the latter to the inhabi¬ 
tants of a village not far distant. 

Mr. and Mrs. Janvier having been appointed 
to the station at Lodiana, he went with them on 
a preaching-tour as far as Delhi. The mission¬ 
ary method of traveling by land was primitive 
and independent—not of choice, but of neces- 


ETHNIC CHARACTER OF UPPER INDIA. 77 

sity. All things they needed had to be carried 
with them. Traveling was safe only during the 
cool of the morning and evening. They had 
small tents to sleep in at night, and meanwhile 
they sent on their large tents ten or twelve miles 
forward, to be ready for their arrival before the 
heat of the day. 

“ Oct. 16 , Sabbath .—A busy, pleasant day, 
Preached this morning in a village to some twen¬ 
ty people, most of whom gave good attention. . . . 
The word of God has appeared to me very pre¬ 
cious in this desert. Though we are far away 
from the great congregations of God’s people, we 
are not alone nor lonely, and are very far from 
being unhappy. We feel that it is good to be 
here, where we have opportunities of making 
known to the poor heathen that gospel which we 
have found to be so precious.” 

In the afternoon they assembled their servants 
for divine service. “ Soon after, a crowd from 
the village assembled around our tents, to whom 
we preached until we thought that prudence re¬ 
quired us to stop. Not more than two or three 
attempted to disturb us by asking useless ques¬ 
tions. May the seed that we have sown to-day 
spring up and bear fruit to the glory of God! 
Daily am I made to feel that the conversion of 
these heathen is to be accomplished not by 


78 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of Jeho¬ 
vah. It is hard work to preach in the midst of 
a multitude whose thoughts and hearts seem to 
be intent on any other subject than on that 
which is nearest to the speaker’s heart.” 

At the city of Aligurh the missionary tents 
were pitched on the 22d of October, near the 
parade-ground of the British military station. 
“We were delighted with the beauty of the 
place. The roads are in fine condition, made of 
kankar , or a kind of limestone, perfectly level 
and hard. One in particular we admired, and 
thought it the most beautiful we had seen in 
India; it extends about two miles from the sta¬ 
tion, and is shaded on both sides with trees. 
The scenery around is very pleasant, and we 
judged, from all that we could observe, that the 
place must be healthy. The city is large, the 
bazar very extensive and filled with a busy 
throng. I wonder that no missionary has been 
stationed here. It appears to me highly desir¬ 
able that our Board should send two mission¬ 
aries here as soon as possible.” 

Next day they preached to a native audience 
of a different character from what they had found 
in the villages. “ The people are far more intel¬ 
ligent, and the Urdu language is here used. We 
felt the difference this morning very sensibly. 


ETHNIC CHARACTER OF UPPER INDIA. 79 

Two missionaries well acquainted with the native 
dialect would here find a large field for preaching, 
and might also have a school under their super¬ 
intendence. I am more and more impressed with 
the importance of making education a prominent 
branch of missionary labor. Not that I think 
education should be substituted for preaching— 
for this is the means of God’s own appointment 
by which he will save them that believe—but 
education should be conducted with the special 
view of rendering preaching in this country 
more efficient; that is, of raising up a native 
ministry. 

“We foreigners, from the nature of the case, 
can seldom, if ever, become able to speak the lan¬ 
guage like the natives, and, besides, if we could, 
enough preachers for the whole of India can 
never be supplied from America and Europe. 
The great body of preachers through whose 
more direct instrumentality this country will be 
converted must be from among the natives them¬ 
selves. They know their own languages better 
than we can ever learn them, are familiar with 
the character of their countrymen, know their 
modes of thought and the style of address best 
adapted to gain their attention and instruct and 
convince them, are acquainted with their cus¬ 
toms, and can also endure this withering climate 


80 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


better than we. While, therefore, we ought to 
endeavor for the present to preach and translate 
and write their languages as well as we can, and 
to be unceasing in these labors, we ought also to 
be unceasing in efforts to train up as soon as pos¬ 
sible a learned and pious native ministry who may 
translate the word of God so as to be understood 
by all, and who may be able to address all the 
people in the cities and villages in the ways best 
adapted to enlighten and convince. If there 
were a dozen such men in a city like this, what 
wonders they might accomplish through divine 
assistance! How happy will the day be when in 
all the villages through which we have recently 
been traveling there shall be stationed village 
pastors!’’ 

On leaving Delhi, Mr. Owen, in company with 
Mr. Scott, spent Sabbath, the 6th of November, in 
a neighboring village, where they preached morn¬ 
ing and evening. Proceeding thence upon their 
way, preaching in the towns and villages and dis¬ 
tributing books and tracts, they came on the fifth 
day afterward to Muttra. There they stopped at 
the bungalow of Mr. Boss, a patrol-officer, who 
entertained them kindly. In his company they 
visited Bindrabau, about five miles from Muttra, 
on the Jumna, where the Hindus believe that 
Krishna became incarnate. Marks of a pair of 


ETHNIC CHARACTER OF UPPER INDIA. 81 

feet were pointed out to them where the god 
alighted. 

“At one peculiarly sacred place we stopped, 
expressing a desire to look into it. The men 
around said it could not be opened then, as the 
god was asleep. I asked them when he would 
awake. They replied, 4 At evening.’— 4 And 
what will he do then? Will he arise and walk 
out?’— 4 No.’— 4 Does he never come out?’— 4 No.’ 
— 4 How do you know when he is awake?’— 4 We 
know.’— 4 How do you know?’— 4 We have evi¬ 
dence.’— 4 What evidence? Your god always 
stays there, never stirs, never comes out, and 
how can you tell whether he is awake or asleep?’ 

44 No definite answer was given, and I then re¬ 
peated Psalm cxv. 4-8, and pointed to the true 
God whom we worship. After speaking of his 
perfections, I directed their attention to the true 
incarnation. 4 You say that Krishna became 
incarnate here. Now let me tell you who did 
become incarnate. The Son of the great God 
became incarnate at a village to the westward 
called Bethlehem.’— 4 And why did he become 
incarnate?’ 

44 This question I answered, and Brother Scott 
then preached. After this we gave away a few 
books, but the people seemed to be mad on their 
idols. We distributed several books through the 
6 


82 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


city as we passed, and all seemed glad to receive 
them. 

“Nov. 12 .—Visited Muttra this morning, and 
spent several hours in taking a general survey 
of it. Its ghauts and temples are numerous and 
costly; it is emphatically a city wholly given to 
idolatry. It was anciently a very wealthy city. 
Mahmood, the first great Mohammedan invader 
of India, entered it in the eleventh century, and 
found its temples most splendid, filled with gi¬ 
gantic idols of pure gold, having eyes of rubies. 
In one was set a sapphire of extraordinary mag¬ 
nitude. Having reduced those rich objects to 
their constituent elements of gold and jewels, he 
loaded with them a long train of camels and 
carried them to Ghizni.” 

From Muttra the missionaries went to Agra, 
where they were entertained by the Bev. C. G. 
Offander, a German missionary in connection 
with the English Church Missionary Society. 
While at Agra they visited the celebrated Taj, 
erected by Shah Jehan in honor of his favorite 
wife. 

“ As we came near the Taj the first object to 
take our attention was the lofty gateway; around 
this are large Arabic inscriptions formed by lay¬ 
ing black stone into white marble. But we could 
not stop to look long at these: our eyes had caught 


ETHNIC CHARACTER OF UPPER INDIA. 83 


something beyond far more attractive. There was 
a lovely garden divided by a broad avenue orna¬ 
mented with courses of water and jets dleau and 
bordered by cypress trees, and at the end of 
which, opposite to where we were, stood the ex¬ 
quisitely beautiful Taj. No description can ad¬ 
equately represent this most charming view. 
The brightest picture that the imagination ever 
conceived of the abodes of fairies might seem to 
be here realized. The marble of which the Taj 
is built had very much the appearance of mother 
of pearl at that distance. The octagonal body of 
the building itself, the dome, the minarets and the 
carved network of the windows, all seemed to be 
of this material. It stands on a square elevated 
ten or twelve feet above the level of the ground; 
the steps by which this is ascended are concealed. 
The pavement is of white marble, and on each 
corner of the square stands a minaret of the 
same material. 

“ On approaching the door of the Taj a vari¬ 
ety of mosaic-work meets the eye, principally 
imitations of plants and flowers, but rather stiff, 
and not so delicate and rich as that in Delhi. 
On entering, the eye is almost bewildered by a 
splendid display of the finest network, carved 
from pure white marble, enclosing two sarcoph¬ 
agi. These, together with the enclosure, are 


84 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


very richly ornamented with mosaics. On one 
sarcophagus is the name of Shah Jehan, and on 
the other that of Mumtaz Mahal, his favorite 
queen. She was also called Taj Bibi— i. e .,‘ Lady 
Taj/ Directly beneath these, in a lower story, 
are two others, exactly corresponding in appear¬ 
ance and finish, and under these is the place of 
sepulture. Over the room where we stood was 
the dome. 

“ From the platform of the Taj we looked off 
directly into the Jumna. From one of the min¬ 
arets the garden of many acres appeared like a 
forest. We afterward walked around it. It is 
by far the most beautiful of the many beautiful 
gardens I have seen in India. 

“From this we went to the fort, which also 
stands on the Jumna. It is built of red granite. 
Within this the great Akbar once held his court. 
It is now almost entirely deserted, but time and 
changes of governments seem to have had little 
effect upon its solid walls. The ground-entrance 
remains as it was, being a succession of inclined 
planes so constructed, the stones with which they 
are paved being cut into grooves, that horses, and 
even carriages, may pass up and down. The mar¬ 
ble palace is pleasantly situated on the banks of 
the Jumna. Although it is rich and splendid, it 
draws little admiration from one who has just 


ETHNIC CHARACTER OF UPPER INDIA. 85 


seen the Taj. Still, it is in a high degree inter¬ 
esting on account of the recollections attached to 
it, having been the residence of some of the most 
celebrated conquerors of the East. . . . Here was 
the court of Akbar, the greatest of the Mongol 
emperors—indeed, one of the greatest of Eastern 
kings. But silence reigns throughout those apart¬ 
ments now ; the glory and power once so far famed 
have long since come to an end. 

“We visited the government college, in which 
English, Arabic and Persian are taught, the ver¬ 
nacular, also, but no religion, except the Hindu 
and Mohammedan. 

“Nov. 15 .—Visited Secundra to-day. Here 
is Akbar’s tomb—a great curiosity, but difficult 
to describe. It stands in a large garden—larger 
than the one in which is the Taj, but not so beau¬ 
tiful. The gateway was once large and elegant, 
but is now going to ruins. 

“ We breakfasted with Mr. Hoerle, one of Mr. 
Offander’s associates; he lives in the entrance to a 
tomb of one of Akbar’s queens. The girls’ school 
is in the mausoleum itself. The boys’ school is 
in the mausoleum of another of his queens, who 
is supposed to have been a Christian, a Portuguese, 
as there is no inscription in the usual Mohamme¬ 
dan style on the sarcophagus. Probably it was 
through her influence that the Jesuit mission- 


86 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


aries were called to Akbar’s court and kept there 
so long. These schools, under Mr. Hoerle’s care, 
are quite interesting. In the boys’ school are 
one hundred and sixty-one, and in the girls’ one 
hundred and sixteen. They earn a large amount 
toward their support by various kinds of manual 
labor. 

“ Near Mr. Offander’s are some curious stones 
which have recently been excavated. From these 
it appears that about two hundred years ago there 
was in Agra a colony of Englishmen and Dutch¬ 
men of whom we have no historical account. 
The stones are in the Mohammedan style and 
of a cheap order. One of the inscriptions is this : 
‘ Here lies the body of John Drake Haine, Anno 
Domini 1637. E. R. fecit. A. Domini 1647.’ Of 
the rest, some in English and some in Dutch, the 
earliest date was 1627, and the latest 1679.” 

On their return-journey the missionary party 
preached in many large villages, in some of them 
several times, and in general the people listened 
attentively. At Kanouj they spent four days. 
Much interest was awakened by their appear¬ 
ance. People came in great numbers around 
their tents daily, and instruction was given by 
one or other of them almost constantly 

One day they took a few hours to survey the 
ruins of the old city, “In days of Buddhist 


ETHNIC CHARACTER OF UPPER INDIA. 87 

superiority Kanouj was a great Buddhist city. 
In the decline of that religion it passed over to 
the rival faith and became the centre of ‘ ortho¬ 
dox Brahmanism, and supplied Brahmanical 
teachers to Bengal, whose descendants are still 
known as Kulin Brahmans/* Mahmoud of 
Ghizni carried from it spoils of immense value. 
The fort was about two miles long, but is now a 
heap of brick and earth. We saw only a small 
piece of the ancient wall remaining. Every¬ 
thing of ancient Hindu structure seems to have 
been brought entirely to ruin, and almost to non¬ 
existence. One or two ancient temples are in 
part remaining, having been changed by the 
Mohammedans into masjids .” 

In January, 1843, Mr. Owen was again in Al¬ 
lahabad, engaged in the ordinary duties of the 
station. 


* Wheeler, History of India. 


CHAPTER YI. 


EDUCATION OF THE HEATHEN. 

TT is a gigantic system of spiritual bondage un- 
der which the Hindu people are enslaved, and 
in the heart of it reigns the belief in cruel and 
vindictive gods who have to be propitiated by 
continual service, whereby every individual is 
dependent on the priesthood, who alone can sat¬ 
isfy them. The doctrine of salvation offered 
freely to faith by the sovereign love of God is 
diametrically opposed to all their habits of think¬ 
ing and all that teaching which from infancy has 
grown into the texture of their minds. Although 
they may understand the words in which it is 
presented, yet the meanings they receive are ne¬ 
cessarily not the Christian, but the heathen—those 
associated with all their own previous use of the 
words. Their whole power of thinking is so 
abused, perverted and preoccupied that they can¬ 
not understand aright the terms in which the gos¬ 
pel is offered. There is needed a Christian edu¬ 
cation for them which shall substitute Christian 


88 


EDUCATION OF THE HEATHEN. 


89 


ideas for heathen and accompany and follow up 
the proclamation of the gospel with exposition 
and application of all its details, and that not 
once in a village, but persistently until the lan¬ 
guage itself becomes imbued with a Christian 
meaning. Government schools existed only at 
far-distant points and reached comparatively few. 
For the most part, the Christian teacher had to 
begin with his pupils at the beginning. In some 
respects he was at a disadvantage as compared 
with the government schools. At the latter good 
attainments were conspicuous and put their pos¬ 
sessor directly in the way of promotion to office. 
Missionary schools held out no such inducements 
and did not profess to be neutral on the subject 
of religion, and yet, because good attainments 
made at the mission schools, although not so di¬ 
rectly under the eye of government, were ac¬ 
cepted as preparation for office, some parents 
were for the sake of that advantage willing to 
risk the danger from the side of religion. An¬ 
other class for whom instruction had to be pro¬ 
vided consisted of destitute children and or¬ 
phans collected by Christian charity. Such was 
a part of the work which the Presbyterian mis¬ 
sionaries in Northern India felt to be incumbent 
upon them from the first. Schools for children 
were commenced at all their stations, and some 


90 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

of them had begun to think of raising up a na¬ 
tive ministry. Into this work of education Mr. 
Owen entered with all his heart. 

The schools were of different kinds—first, those 
taught in the bazars, open to all who chose to at¬ 
tend and occupied chiefly in teaching to read the 
vernacular tongue; secondly, free schools on the 
mission premises ; and thirdly, orphan-schools for 
both boys and girls. In these latter more ex¬ 
tended instruction was attempted, including all 
the ordinary elementary departments in Hindu- 
stanee, Hindi and English. By way of prepar¬ 
ing for a higher and a clerical course of study, a 
high school was instituted at Lodiana and put for 
a time in charge of Mr. Porter, and afterward, in 
1842, of Mr. Janvier.* The mission at Allah¬ 
abad, in like manner, “ having had in contempla¬ 
tion for length of time to establish a high school 
in which a more extended course of study might 
be imparted to the orphan-boys under its care, 
and in which biblical instruction should hold the 
most prominent place, resolved to open the school 
on the 1st of January, 1843, in the house used 
as a mission chapel, but in consequence of the 
mela being held at that time it did not go into 
operation until the beginning of February. No¬ 
tices were circulated through the city inviting 

* For. Miss. Chron., vol. xii. 105. 


EDUCATION OF THE HEATHEN. 


91 


the natives to send their children to this school, 
where they would be instructed in the native 
languages, and also receive an English education 
free of expense. Mr. Owen was appointed to 
superintend the native department and assist in 
the English when needed, and Mr. Wray to su¬ 
perintend the English. Two assistants were also 
employed. Its schools soon became an interest¬ 
ing feature of the mission, divided into the four 
separate departments of the boys’ bazar schools, 
the girls’ bazar schools, the orphan-girls’ school 
and the mission high school. From the reported 
list of studies pursued in the last named, it ap¬ 
pears that the chief view was the preparation of 
those who might be otherwise qualified for the 
ministry of the gospel among their countrymen. 

“April 26, 1843 .—Sindh is now an integral 
part of British territory. A great battle was 
fought by the British army, under command of 
Sir Charles Napier, against the Beloochees, on 
the 17th of February, and a decisive victory 
gained, and another on the 24th of March with¬ 
in six miles of Hyderabad. The result will prob¬ 
ably be the opening of the Indus and the intro¬ 
duction of civilization and Christianity into 
Sindh.” 

A college had been established at Allahabad 
and for some years suj^ported by the British 


92 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


East India government for the education of na¬ 
tive youth in the English language and learning. 
On the 1st of October, 1846, that institution was 
transferred to the care and control of the Amer¬ 
ican missionaries, with the use of the building, 
furniture and as much of the library as they 
might require.* 

As the Bible and the Christian religion had 
been hitherto excluded from the course of stud¬ 
ies, it became a point of much solicitude with the 
missionaries and their friends what course would 
be taken by the students on finding that the col¬ 
lege was now to be conducted on Christian prin¬ 
ciples. On the first day after the change a dis¬ 
cussion took place concerning Christianity, and 
the members of the first class and some of the 
second withdrew ; the rest continued in attend¬ 
ance, and new names were soon added. The Bi¬ 
ble and Christian books were introduced, as they 
had been in the high school; heathen holidays 
were discountenanced, and a radical change was 
accomplished in the religious character of the in¬ 
stitution. In merging itself into the college the 
school communicated its own religious character. 
The new institution, as the mission college, was 
put under charge of Mr. Owen, with Mr. Wray, 
and to some extent others, as assistants.*)- At 

* For. Miss. Chron., xv. 325. \ Ibid., xv. 79. 


EDUCATION OF THE HEATHEN. 


93 


Furruckabad a similar transfer was made, with a 
valuable library of seven hundred volumes. In 
1847 the number of children and youth under 
instruction of the three Presbyterian missions in 
Northern India amounted to about one thousand.* 
Mr. Owen, in a report f of the progress of the 
college at Allahabad for its first six months, after 
mentioning how great was the opposition in the 
city against it under its new management, and 
that he and his colleagues had to proceed with 
caution, and yet with decision, goes on to say 
that their firm resolve was that it should be a 
Christian institution—“ that the Bible must be 
taught and liberty given us to explain its doc¬ 
trines, otherwise we would have nothing to do 
with it. Some good friends advised us to bring 
it in the first day, but we thought it our duty 
to adapt our proceedings to the peculiar circum¬ 
stances. Here was a seminary in which opposi¬ 
tion to the Bible had long been virtually fostered. 
Our position was far more difficult than if the pu¬ 
pils had been brought to us rude from the city. 
Had the Bible been brought at once and placed 
in their hands, the whole number would probably 
have left; yet the Bible was introduced the very 
first day, and, though not read by the city lads, 
it was heard: our orphan-boys went on reading 
* For. Miss. Chron., xv. 195. f Ibid., 257. 


94 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


the Scriptures as usual, while the others sat and 
listened. In a few days, however, the Bible was 
given to a class of city lads to read at their own 
request. They had requested to read Milton’s 
‘ Paradise Lost/ and after reading it a few days 
discovered that they could not understand it 
properly without the Bible, and asked me to read 
it with them.” It was gradually introduced into 
the other classes as they were willing to receive it. 

On the 10th of December, after the college had 
been two months in connection with the mission, 
a public examination was had in presence of sev¬ 
eral visitors, ladies and gentlemen, who expressed 
themselves “ delighted to hear all the classes read¬ 
ing the Bible, except the youngest, who were not 
yet able to read it with advantage.” About a 
hundred youth were present at the examination, 
although they had opened with only fifty. 

“ While the mela lasted we continued our reg¬ 
ular recitations daily, without any regard to the 
festival, though frequently besieged by the stu¬ 
dents with requests for holiday. We would have 
been glad to be at the mela for preaching more 
than we were, but, as the object of all our labors 
is to break up the mela, and every other idola¬ 
trous thing, we thought it would be best pro¬ 
moted by remaining at our proper post.”* 

* F. M. Chron., xv. 326. 


EDUCATION OF THE HEATHEN. 


95 


On the first festival after the transfer of the 
college none of the scholars attended. “ When 
the next came—for they are constantly coming: 
the government gave about one-third of the year 
to them—two or three were present. On the ar¬ 
rival of the next the same arguments were urged 
for the holy day.” The calm reply was, “ We 
are Christians. We do not compel you to ob¬ 
serve our sacred days ; why should you wish to 
compel us to observe yours? We allow you to 
follow your consciences; you should allow us to 
follow ours. We think you are wrong in observ¬ 
ing these days; we advise you to attend to your 
studies. Still, we lay no compulsion on you.” 
Gentle firmness, with care to make knowledge 
entertaining to them, struggled through the dif¬ 
ficulty. With similar caution and respectful 
kindness the objections to reading the Bible in 
college were overcome. 

At the end of a few months Mr. Owen could 
say, 

“ I spend an hour daily with all in the college 
department—eight sophomores and fourteen fresh¬ 
men—in the reading and exposition of the oracles 
of God, and I have not a more delightful hour in 
the whole twenty-four. We proceed thus: I call 
upon some one to repeat what he can remember 
of the preceding day's lesson from the Old Testa- 


96 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

ment (at present Genesis), with the explanation 
given; then we proceed to a new chapter, which 
they read, two verses in turn, after which we go 
over it carefully, calling attention to the most 
important parts, showing the connection between 
the different parts of the history, keeping prom¬ 
inently in view the great fact that this is the in¬ 
spired history of God’s Church, and in connec¬ 
tion with this explaining the nature of the 
Church, pointing out the doctrines, the types of 
the Messiah and prophecies respecting him, and 
making such practical remarks as the portion 
read may suggest. After this is done we turn to 
the New Testament, and after some one has giv¬ 
en an account of the preceding day’s lesson from 
it we proceed with a small portion on a plan 
similar to the one used with the Old Testament, 
varying the instruction as the subject may re¬ 
quire. We are at present reading the Gospels 
in harmony. On Saturdays, instead of reading 
the Scriptures, they spend an hour or more in 
reciting two or three answers from the West¬ 
minster Shorter Catechism, with proofs. In this 
way I hope precious seed is finding soil where it 
shall yet germinate and yield an increase to the 
glory of God’s grace. 

“ The truth has already begun to work. Some¬ 
times we have most interesting conversations on 


EDUCATION OF THE HEATHEN. 


97 


some of the doctrines brought into view by the 
Scripture read, of which I could not repeat to 
you the tenth part. Exclamations like the fol¬ 
lowing have been made with all appearance of 
sincerity and with marked feeling: 4 Oh, is this 
book indeed true ? Is the soul really to live for 
ever, and is its condition to be fixed without any 
possibility of change after leaving this world? 
Then I am in great fear; my Shasters never told 
me any such thing. Is the soul hereafter to have 
no transmigration? Must it be unchangeably 
fixed either in heaven or in hell? I am not fit 
to go to heaven ; if I should die now, I must go 
to hell. I am in great fear. Oh, must the pun¬ 
ishment of hell be for everf That is awful. 
What shall I do to be saved ? ’ This last was 
said to me one day by a young Brahman, with 
tears in his eyes, after we had been reading the 
Bible. He came home with me; I conversed and 
prayed with him. He has frequently been to me 
for private conversation and prayer since that 
time, attends church regularly—attends, also, I 
hope, to secret prayer—reads the Scriptures with 
attention, has read Baxter’s Call , is now reading 
Doddridge’s Rise and Progress , and will, I trust, 
in God’s own good time be led to make a public 
profession of attachment to the Saviour.” 

After prayer had also been introduced with the 

7 



98 


THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


consent of the students, “ some who had attended 
church and heard singing wished that we might 
have singing also; so I promised them that they 
should have it the next morning. I got several 
copies of the General Assembly’s former collec¬ 
tion of hymns, now lying out of use since the in¬ 
troduction of the last collection, distributed them 
and requested that all would try to sing, as that 
was the only way of learning. They all seemed 
greatly pleased. All except a strict Mohamme¬ 
dan joined in trying, and, as I am not much of a 
singer, the strange variety of noises sometimes 
almost puts me out. But they do it all with 
great respect and sobriety, and some express a 
desire to learn the art of singing well. The 
Hindus generally are such bad musicians—so 
monotonous and without taste in all their per¬ 
formances, whether instrumental or vocal—that 
the desire expressed by these youth to learn the 
science of music is rather remarkable.” 

Toward the end of the first year Mr. Owen 
wrote to the lieutenant-governor, giving him an 
account of what had been done and asking him 
to become patron of the college. “ He replied 
very kindly, and freely gave his consent.” Sev¬ 
eral English residents became trustees. “ Of 
course they will not interfere with our regula¬ 
tions, but will visit the institution from time to 


EDUCATION OF THE HEATHEN, 


99 


time, attend the examinations, award prizes, give 
us their counsel, and in various ways show them¬ 
selves interested in its prosperity. ,, On the same 
occasion he also proposed a system of scholarships, 
remarking that “ it is very desirable to hold out 
some inducement to our best scholars to remain 
in connection with the institution, pursuing their 
studies a year or two after passing through the 
regular course, and we hope to have theological 
classes that will need assistance from these schol¬ 
arships. The course of study, as at present 
marked out, is eight years—four for the school, 
and four for the college.” 

Appended to the Catalogue and Regulations 
of the Allahabad mission college for the year 
1847 was a list of contributions to its support 
subscribed by English gentlemen of the East 
India Company’s service, of from ten to two 
hundred rupees annually. At the head of that 
list stands the name of Arthur Lang, magistrate 
of the district of Allahabad in the East India 
Company’s service. 

Next year, 1848, in the month of March, the 
mission was strengthened by the arrival of the 
Rev. A. A. Hodge and his wife. The Rev. Mer- 
rit Owen was to have joined his brother, but died 
before leaving home. Mr. Hodge went in his 
stead, and was received as a brother at the house 



100 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

of Mr. Joseph Owen. Mr. Hodge was assigned 
to a place in the mission college, but his residence 
in India was brief. The declining health of Mrs. 
Hodge rendered it necessary to return to America 
before the end of two years.* His place was sub¬ 
sequently filled by Mr. Munnis, transferred from 
the Furruckabad mission. From the beginning 
the method w T as adopted of appointing native 
monitors, and of employing them, according to 
their capacity, in teaching. 

In 1849 three of the bazar schools were con¬ 
nected with the college as a vernacular depart¬ 
ment, making the whole number of scholars 
about three hundred. 

In August, 1850, reinforcements left America 
for all the North India missions—Mr. and Mrs. 
L. G. Hay and Mr. and Mrs. H. W. Shaw to 
join that of Allahabad, Mr. and Mrs. Campbell 
and Mr. Fullerton to Furruckabad, and Mr. Or- 
bison to Lodiana. They reached Calcutta De¬ 
cember 30, 1850.f 

On the 6th of February, 1850, Mr. Owen 
made the following statements respecting the 
progress of the college: “ At the examination on 
the 6th of December we had present one hun¬ 
dred and fifty-three in the English department, 

*F. Miss. Chron., xv. 272; F. Miss., July, 1850, p. 41. 
f F. M. Chron., 1850, p. 74; 1851, p. 188. 


EDUCATION OF THE HEATHEN. 


101 


and one hundred and forty-five in the vernacular 
—in all, two hundred and ninety-eight. Of 
course our assembly-liall was nearly full. We 
opened again on the 4th of January, and, though 
the mela, and immediately after that the holi , have 
been in progress, we have yet nearly the same 
number in attendance. 

“Day before yesterday (Feb. 4) was observed 
by several Christians in different parts of India 
as a day of fasting and prayer for the blessing 
of God upon missionary labors in this country. 
I had forgotten previously to announce the sub¬ 
ject to our pupils. They assembled, as usual, at 
ten A. M. for prayers in the assembly-hall, when 
I had worship with them and explained why the 
day was thus observed, and invited them to go 
over with me to the church at eleven o’clock. 
Accordingly, they all formed in procession at 
eleven, to the number of two hundred and thir¬ 
ty-seven, and marched with me to church, where 
I preached to them in Hindustanee from Psalm 
li. 10. 

“ Mr. Thomason, our excellent lieutenant-gov¬ 
ernor, visited us about the middle of January, 
and expressed himself much pleased with our 
arrangements. Seeing them all assembled in the 
hall, he inquired whether they could sing hymns. 
I had made no special preparation of this kind, 


102 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


but mentioned the hymn that first occurred to me 
—‘Salvation! Oh, the joyful sound,’ etc.—which 
they sang, greatly to his delight. He kindly 
sent the institution a donation of two hundred 
rupees a day or two afterward. 

“ Since we have got the large room we have 
prayers twice daily, at the commencement and at 
the close of our daily duties. At each time I 
read a portion of Scripture and pray in Hindu- 
stanee, so that all may understand the petitions 
that are offered, and may join in them with their 
hearts; and at the morning service we always sing. 
Sometimes I exhibit pictures illustrative of Scrip¬ 
ture scenes or incidents, accompanied, of course, 
with explanations and remarks in Urdu.” 

At that date the number of children and 
youth under instruction of the Allahabad mis¬ 
sionaries amounted to three hundred and ninety- 
nine. 

While laboring thus to create a centre of Chris¬ 
tian education and to raise up a class of men to 
take the place of Christian ministers for their 
native land, Mr. Owen conceived also the plan 
of having a system of branch-schools connected 
with preaching-stations within the district of Al¬ 
lahabad, to be conducted by some of the best- 
prepared graduates of the mission college. An 
English gentleman having generously offered to 


EDUCATION OF THE HEATHEN. 


103 


assist in “ some private benevolent scheme/’ Mr. 
Owen stated to him his views on this subject. A 
branch-school was forthwith commenced at Phul- 
pur, a town some eighteen or twenty miles from 
Allahabad, under instruction of two native teach¬ 
ers. Mr. Owen himself spent four days there 
making arrangements. “ If this experiment suc¬ 
ceeds, I have another place in view, and we have 
two young men qualified to occupy it. Indeed, I 
have half a dozen places in view, and shall not 
feel satisfied till the whole district of Allahabad 
is dotted over with Christian schools and sta¬ 
tions.” 

A similar branch-school was soon after (No¬ 
vember, 1853*) commenced at Banda; at the 
end of the first year it numbered one hundred 
and fifty-four scholars. In April, 1854, we find 
Mr. Owen on a visit to that placef for the pur¬ 
pose of securing greater conveniences of accom¬ 
modation in suitable dwellings, and a school-house 
for the branch-mission there. “ I am thankful,” 
he writes, “ to record that we have now one thou¬ 
sand one hundred and thirty-seven rupees in the 
school treasury with which to commence buying 
and building if we are spared till after the rains.” 
At the examination in October, 1854, Mr. Owen 
was present, together with an English gentle- 
* F. M., 1855, p. 255. t Ibid., 1854, p. 224. 


104 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


man who afterward published a commendatory 
account of it.* 

At the end of that year the principal school 
at Allahabad closed its session with five hundred 
and fifty scholars. It was subsequently assigned 
to other superintendency, and at the end of three 
years a great calamity befell the country, putting 
that and all other missionary work to a stop. 

In 1854 the government of India provided for 
extending their system of education in the cre¬ 
ating of universities and common schools which 
were to be open to all ranks and colors, and 
teachers were to be allowed to give Bible instruc¬ 
tion to any of their scholars who might wish it 
out of school-hours. But such instruction was 
not to be subject of examination by the visitors 
appointed under government.j* 

A larger portion of Mr. Owen’s time was now 
given to translation, revision of translation, and 
exposition of Scripture. 

*F. M ., Nov., 1854; Nov., 1855, p. 170; May, 1856. 
f Ibid., Jan., 1855, p. 254. 


CHAPTER VII. 


GENERAL PROGRESS AND EVENTS OF MISSIONARY 
WORK. 

{ LTHOUGH true religion has no such pecu- 
^ liar adaptability to one branch of mankind 
as to unfit it for another, yet there are certain 
ethnic natures of a more religious disposition 
than others. The Chinese, when they rise above 
superstition, are merely moral or formal, and the 
Turks, when not fatalists, lean to rationalism; but 
there are two Oriental races which from the earli¬ 
est dawn of their history have been distinguished 
by the devotional element of character. These 
two are the Hebrew and the Hindu. Equally 
prone in their devotionalism to worship anything 
that can be conceived of as representative of God, 
the former have through all their history been 
guarded against the errors of that tendency, the 
iatter abandoned to it without restraint; the for¬ 
mer have been made the means of maintaining 
the present monotheism, the latter have developed 
the most complex and artificial system of poly¬ 
theism. The monotheistic faith of the Hebrews 


105 


106 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

is devotional, contemplates a personal God and 
abhors the generalization of the rationalist; so 
the polytheism of the Hindu, though compre¬ 
hended in the theory of a pantheistic philosophy, 
is practically devotional and rests on manifold ob¬ 
jects of idolatry. Similarly-endowed natures have 
under different styles of treatment been brought 
to religious positions diametrically opposite—one 
to the highest and the other to the lowest occu¬ 
pied by civilized man. Among the religions of 
the far East the Hindu stands as the Hebrew 
among those of the West. His is the oldest re¬ 
ligion of the ruling race to the east of Assyria 
and south of China. From it have set off the 
greatest arid most pervasive reforms of all the 
farther East, Avestanism and Buddhism, and its 
productivity in sects continues to this hour. To 
such a degree have spiritual and eternal things 
always occupied the mind of the Hindu that the 
affairs of the present life have been overlooked 
and undervalued. The spiritual has been re¬ 
garded as the only reality, material things being 
deemed but seeming—mere illusion, the Maya of 
their mythology. The Hebrews were abundantly 
realistic, and from their ancient Scriptures it ap¬ 
pears as prone to idolatry as the Hindus. That 
they did not reach the same depth was due to the 
interposition of a better instruction. May we not 


GENERAL PROGRESS OF THE MISSION 107 


hope that the same instruction, impressed upon 
the Hindus, may work a similar effect upon them, 
and through them upon the world of which they 
form so large a part? The race which has given 
the self-sacrificing devotees of Brahmanism and 
the propagandists of Buddhism, if converted to 
a purer faith—one more satisfactory to both the 
heart and the understanding—may be expected, 
when imbued by the lessons of the gospel, to fur¬ 
nish the most devoted of its ministers. In this 
light an interesting fact of the American mis¬ 
sions in Northern India is that they are planted 
among a Hindu people. 

The Mohammedans of that country are de¬ 
scended of the foreign conquerors who ruled it 
before the arrival of the British. From Oude 
westward to the Indus was the scene of their 
principal residence, and their authority, planted 
at Delhi or Agra, made Allahabad one of its 
strong places. Not Arabs, but Persians and Af¬ 
ghans, were those invaders, and, although the 
Arabic language was introduced by them in wor¬ 
ship and the observances of religion, Persian was 
their language of business and of state. Their 
religion presented itself to the Hindu as utterly 
foreign. The strong point of Mohammedanism, 
the certain truth of the oneness of God, answers 
the purpose of making its believers boldly confi- 


108 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

dent in the whole of their creed, haughty, over¬ 
bearing and intolerant. In discussion with them 
Mr. Owen found his familiar knowledge of the 
Hebrew Scriptures and of the Koran in Arabic 
of great advantage. Copies of both he carried 
with him on his missionary-tours, always ready 
to verify or refute an alleged quotation. If his 
acquaintance with Sanskrit was not equally ex¬ 
tensive, it was enough to furnish the means of 
encountering the common Brahmanical opposi¬ 
tion from that quarter, as well as a help in the 
work of translation into Hindi which soon fell to 
his lot. In accordance with a resolution of the 
General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church 
in the United States, adopted in 1841, the mis¬ 
sions of Lodiana, Allahabad and Furruckabad 
were constituted Presbyteries and organized into 
a Synod, to be called the Synod of Northern 
India. Intervening changes and the distances 
and expense of traveling occasioned much delay 
in carrying that act of Assembly into effect. The 
first meeting of the Synod was to have been at 
Futtehghur on the 7th of December, 1844, and 
Messrs. Owen and Warren were requested by the 
missionaries at Allahabad to represent their sta¬ 
tion. 

On the 7th of November preceding, Mr. Owen 
was married to Augusta Margaret, daughter of 


GENERAL PROGRESS OF THE MISSION. 109 


Major-General Proctor of the British army. 
Upon the death of her father Miss Proctor had 
accepted the invitation of her cousin Mrs. Lang, 
wife of Arthur Lang, magistrate of the district 
of Allahabad, and removed thither in 1842. 
His union with that amiable and accomplished 
Christian lady brought Mr. Owen into more in¬ 
timate social relations with the British residents, 
both civil and military, greatly extending the 
sphere of his influence. 

On the day of their marriage Mr. and Mrs. 
Owen set out on a missionary-tour which was to 
terminate in the meeting of Synod at Futtehghur. 
They traveled by budgerow on the Ganges, and 
at all stopping-places Mr. Owen availed himself, 
as usual, of opportunities to preach the gospel by 
oral instruction and distribution of books. They 
reached Futtehghur on the 2d of December, and 
on the 7th, the day appointed for the meeting of 
Synod, the members present assembled in the or¬ 
phan-school chapel, but in consequence of the 
absence of representation from Lodiana were un¬ 
able to organize the Synod. They, however, met 
in convention and transacted some business, the 
most important of which were two resolutions in 
regard to translation—first, “ That a revision of 
the Hindi and Urdu versions of the Scriptures 
now in use is desirable so soon as the work can 


110 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


be doneand second, “ That in order to expedite 
the translation of the standards of the Church 
the three Presbyteries constituting the Synod be 
requested to divide the work among themselves 
as follows: Allahabad to translate the Larger and 
Shorter Catechisms; Furruckabad, the Form of 
Government and the Directory; and Lodiana 
the Confession of Faith. These are to be pre¬ 
pared both in Urdu and Hindi, ready to be pre¬ 
sented to Synod for its approval whenever that 
body may meet.” It had also been thought ad¬ 
visable by the mission to print for circulation 
among the native population a volume of ser¬ 
mons in the Urdu language. The text under¬ 
taken by Mr. Owen was the first psalm. His 
work upon it proved in course of time to be the 
beginning of a translation and an exposition of 
the whole book of Psalms in Urdu. 

The events of the Sikh war disturbed only the 
mission at Lodiana, but the interests concerned 
belonged equally to all the stations. The mis¬ 
sionaries felt that the cause of the British gov¬ 
ernment in that conflict was the cause of Chris¬ 
tianity in India; on their part, the authorities did 
everything in their power to protect the mission¬ 
aries of Lodiana, who were enclosed within the 
military movements. 

“ Jan. 6, 1846 .—The close of the year was 


GENERAL PROGRESS OF THE MISSION. Ill 


marked by important events in the North-west 
—occurrences that will no doubt make a prom¬ 
inent figure in Indian history. The British 
army encountered a large army of the Sikhs, 
who had made aggression on this side of the Sut¬ 
lej, on the 18th, 21st and 22d of December, and, 
though with great loss, drove them from the field. 
The first battle was at Moodkee, twenty-two miles 
from Firozpur; the engagements on the 21st and 
22d, at Firozshahr, near Firozpur. The loss on 
both sides has been sad, though not all the par¬ 
ticulars are yet known. 

“Feb. 18 .—If it had not been the Lord that 
was on our side when men rose up against us, 
surely we had been destroyed or driven from In¬ 
dia. Why was not our army vanquished at 
Firozshahr when, weakened by hunger and fa¬ 
tigue, they were led against a well-disciplined 
and numerous foe thirsting for our blood, and 
whose artillery did such awful execution? The 
hand of God was there. Why have not the 
natives in every direction around us created re¬ 
volt, and why was a conspiracy at Patna detected 
and suppressed ? God has been for us. Every 
observer of Providence must perceive that the 
great Euler has the direction of all the occur¬ 
rences that have been taking place and are still 
going on. On the 28th of January a division 


112 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE . 

of the army under command of Sir Harry Smith 
attacked the Sikhs in their entrenchments, and 
drove them over the river with great loss. 

“ Again we have heard of a most decisive vic¬ 
tory, gained on the 10th instant. The loss on 
the Sikh side must have been great. They were 
driven from their entrenchments into the river, 
and, their bridge having been destroyed, they 
were upward of half an hour in crossing, during 
which time an awful file-firing of eight or ten 
regiments was pouring upon an immense mass of 
them, and the horse artillery driving grape into 
them. The slaughter must have been awful. 

“April 10 .—Occupied in the morning at the 
third psalm, after breakfast reading Urdu and 
correspondence, and a little of the Quran with 
the Tafsir i Husaini. In school with the first 
class on the first and second of Joshua, hav¬ 
ing finished the Pentateuch in Hebrew, also in 
assisting them to begin Greek. Am pleased 
with their improvement in Euclid and history. 
Preached in the evening at Kydganj chapel from 
John viii. 12 to a rather attentive audience. 

“ May 6 .—Overland letters bringing me tid¬ 
ings for which I was somewhat prepared—the 
death of dear George. Cannot be sufficiently 
thankful for the grace given to prepare him to 
meet death. Afflicted family! Dear mother, 


GENERAL PROGRESS OF THE MISSION. 113 


dear father! Breach upon breach! Yet they 
can sing of mercy as well as of judgment! The 
rod of our heavenly Father has been heavily laid 
upon us. May we be humbled and brought 
nearer to him! Three sisters and one brother at 
God’s right hand to meet me the moment I de¬ 
part hence to be with Christ! Oh how holy I 
ought to be in all holy conversation and godli¬ 
ness, how instant in prayer, how strong in faith, 
how pure and fervent in love, how ardent in zeal, 
how dead to this world, how alive to heavenly 
things!—O my God, take thou full possession of 
my soul. Let me not be so stupid, so cold and 
sluggish in prayer, so lacking in a due regard to 
thy kingdom.—Dear Jesus, comfort my friends 
at home. Give them that joy and peace which 
thou alone canst impart. 

“Aug. 8 .—Occupied the last three days with 
Brother Warren and native assistants in revising 
the translation of the Shorter Catechism and pre¬ 
paring it for the approval of Synod—a pleasant 
though difficult work. Its words of grace are 
delightful to go over because drawn from the Bi¬ 
ble. Two of my dear boys, George and Yunas, 
are to join us in the communion to-morrow even¬ 
ing. Hope and rejoice, yet with trembling. 
Edwin applied, but was deferred till next time. 
Do not see the large boys as earnest for the sal- 
8 


114 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

vation of the younger ones as I wish. When 
shall we have more like Koilas Chunder Mook- 
erjee? 

“ Aug. 9. —Lord’s Supper in Hindustanee in 
the evening, services conducted by Brother Free¬ 
man. Happy, very happy, to see George and 
Yunas among the communicants. Had little 
Gulal, an orphan sent here a few months ago by 
Mr. Moncton, baptized by the name Albert Dod. 
May he be baptized by the Holy Ghost! 

“ Sept. 26 .—A Brahman, after service, wished 
to have a talk, and began with Sanskrit. I re¬ 
peated a shlolc from Manu and demanded its 
meaning before we could proceed. This he was 
unable to give, and after several fruitless attempts 
at evasion he backed out of the crowd, went into 
the street, and at the safe distance of several rods 
poured forth another volley of the language in 
which he professed to be so learned.” 

The missions of the American Presbyterian 
Church in India had now increased to eight sta¬ 
tions, classed under the heads of the Lodiana, 
Furruckabad and Allahabad missions. To the 
first belonged the stations at Lodiana, Saharun- 
pur, Sabathu and Merut; to the second, Furruck¬ 
abad, or Futtehghur, Mynpurie and Agra; and 
to the last, that of the city and district of Allah¬ 
abad. 


GENERAL PROGRESS OF THE MISSION. 115 


At Lodiana and Allahabad printing-presses 
were in operation, issuing books and tracts in 
Hindustanee and Hindi—at Lodiana also in 
Punjabi, and at Allahabad also in Sanskrit and 
English. At Lodiana, Saharunpur, Furruck- 
abad, Mynpurie and Allahabad there were schools 
for children, and at Lodiana and Allahabad high 
schools for pupils farther advanced, that at Al¬ 
lahabad being chiefly for the purpose of pre¬ 
paring young men to be ministers of the gospel 
and helpers in Christian work. 

At Lodiana were stationed the Rev. Messrs. 
Porter, Janvier and Morrison, with Golok Nath, 
a native licentiate; at Saharunpur, the Rev. J. 
R. Campbell, with assistant teachers; at Sabathu, 
the Rev. Messrs. Newton and Jamieson; at Me- 
rut, the Rev. J. Caldwell, with Mrs. Caldwell 
and Gabriel, a native assistant. At Furruck- 
abad the missionaries were the Rev. J. L. Scott, 
W. H. M’Auley and Mrs. Nundy, with native 
teachers; at Mynpurie, the Rev. J. J. Walsh, 
Mrs. Walsh, Hulasi, a native assistant, and na¬ 
tive teachers; at Agra, the Rev. Messrs. J. Wil¬ 
son, J. C. Rankin, Mrs. Wilson and Mrs. Ran¬ 
kin ; and at Allahabad, the Rev. Messrs. Warren, 
Freeman, Owen, Wray, and their wives, with na¬ 
tive assistants and teachers. And on their way 
to India, designed for the Furruckabad mission, 


116 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


were the Rev. Messrs. Irving and Seeley, with 
their wives, and Robert M. Munnis, a licentiate 
preacher. 

The printing-press at Lodiana had commenced 
work after a destructive fire; that at Allahabad 
had issued in the course of the preceding year 
four million five hundred and seventy-nine 
thousand pages in four different languages— 
Hindi, Hindustanee, Sanskrit and English. 

In the schools the missionaries encouraged by 
all means at their command the study of the 
English language and of the vernaculars—the 
former in order that their pupils might have free 
access to the Christian literature which they were 
prepared to put into their hands, and the latter 
that the knowledge acquired by the student 
through the English language might at once be 
available through his own mother-tongue. 

One of the results of the Sikh war was to ex¬ 
tend the field of missions into the Punjab. On 
the 1st of January, 1847, Golok Nath was or¬ 
dained as an evangelist by the Presbytery of 
Lodiana, and appointed to occupy the city of Ja- 
landar, about thirty-five miles west of Lodiana, 
and the capital of the Doab, called by its name, 
the first district of the Punjab annexed to the 
British empire.* Lahore was occupied by Messrs. 

* For. Miss. Chron., xv. pp. 148, 225. 


GENERAL PROGRESS OF THE MISSION. 117 

Newton and Forman in 1849, November 21, and 
a school was commenced on the 19th of Decem¬ 
ber.* In 1848, Mr. J. Ulmann, a German long 
resident in India, was licensed by the Presbytery 
of Furruckabad to preach the gospel, and added 
to the force of Allahabad.*)* A new station was 
constituted at Ambala, and occupied by Mr. and 
Mrs. Jamieson in the beginning of the year 1848. J 
Mr. Morrison was transferred to Sabathu in the 
course of the same year.§ Futtehpore, as a 
branch of the Allahabad mission, was occupied 
by Mr. Munnis and four native helpers.|| Sub¬ 
sequently to the annexation of the whole Punjab, 
Pawal Pindee was assumed as a mission station for 
the North-west of that province, and also as a 
position from which to operate upon the Af¬ 
ghans. An English Christian friend made the 
offer of seven thousand five hundred dollars to 
the Board if a mission were established for that 
people and the New Testament translated into 
their language. Nearly at the same time the 
services of five brethren were placed at the dis¬ 
posal of the committee for India. One of these, 
Mr. Lowenthal, from the theological seminary at 
Princeton, was considered to be peculiarly fitted 


* For. Miss., Feb., 1856, p. 263. f For. Miss. Chron., xvii. p. 48. 
%lbid., xvi. p. 212. \Ibid., xvi. p. 113. 

|| Ibid., Sept., 1852, p. 72. 


118 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


by his linguistic talents and acquirements for the 
mission to the Afghans. The Lodiana mission¬ 
aries were requested to select two of their num¬ 
ber and assign them to whatever point in the 
Punjab was deemed most eligible—one of them, 
from the older missionaries, to be still employed 
in Hindu work, and the other, from the newly 
arrived, to take up Pushtoo studies. Missionary 
effort within Afghanistan was not yet practicable. 
The result was the choice of Bawal Pindee as the 
station, and of Messrs. Morrison and Lowenthal 
as the missionaries. They were soon afterward 
separated, and, while Mr. Morrison remained in 
Pawal Pindee, Mr. Lowenthal was located nearer 
to the field which his views contemplated, at Pesh¬ 
awar, on the west side of the Indus. 

Under the influence of accumulating Christian 
intelligence and culture a society of young men, 
native Hindus trained in the schools to Christian 
science and English literature, but not spiritually 
prepared to accept the gospel, was formed by 
themselves at Agra, under the name of the 
“ Young Bengal Literary Society of Agra,” in 
relation to the party in Calcutta calling them¬ 
selves “Young Bengal” and associated for mu¬ 
tual support in casting off the practices and prej¬ 
udices of Hinduism. The work of the society 
consisted mostly in debating, reading essays and 


GENERAL PROGRESS OF THE MISSION. 119 


supporting and teaching an English school. In 
religion they rejected Hinduism without becom¬ 
ing Christian, but taking the ground of pure 
monotheism. In their meetings and exercises 
they used the English language, and regarded 
the Bible as an authority to be appealed to in 
questions of right and wrong. Actual profes¬ 
sions of Christian faith were still few, but in¬ 
creasing in number in all the missions, and in 
the conversion of some who had never been un¬ 
der the personal instruction of the missionaries 
evidence was furnished that the influence of their 
books and pupils was operating beyond the bounds 
of the stations.* Many of these enterprises re¬ 
ceived liberal contributions from British resi¬ 
dents, and even from a few natives of rank and 
wealth, among whom were the rajah of Kapur- 
thala and the Sikh prince Dhuleep Singh. The 
latter professed Christianity, and was baptized by 
the English chaplain at Futtehghur in 1853.f 
At Futtehghur a village was erected for the ac¬ 
commodation of Christian natives in which they 
could pursue their occupations, enjoy society and 
their religious privileges without interruption or 
offence; and some native villages in that quarter 
applied through their own authorities for regular 

* F. M., November, p. 104. 

\ Ibid., July, 1853, p. 45; also October, p. 90. 


120 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


instruction in the Christian religion. A similar 
movement took place at Pawal Pindee, where a 
number of people rejected Hinduism* and ac¬ 
cepted what they knew of Christianity. 

Mr. Campbell at Saharunpur reported that 
twelve Hindus in that city had renounced idol¬ 
atry and were in the habit of assembling daily 
to read the Christian Scriptures and inquire 
about Christianity.f They were headed by a 
learned pundit. 

At the melas at Allahabad a greater number 
gave attention, and more serious attention, to the 
preaching of the gospel.J Mr. Woodside of the 
Lodiana mission commenced about the same time 
his work at Dehra, where, although encountering 
much opposition from government officials as well 
as from natives, he was favored with encouraging 
success. He opened his school January 1, 1854, 
with two pupils, and closed its first session at 
the end of September with nearly eighty. He 
adds in his letter on the subject, “ I have a very 
respectable congregation of Europeans every Sab¬ 
bath, and a prayer-meeting on Thursday evening. 
I have gathered around me a little native com¬ 
munity of about twenty souls, who all attend our 
exercises.” § 

*F. M., Jan., 1854, p. 158. f Ibid., May, 1854, p. 285. 

t Ibid., June, 1854, p. 28. § Ibid., Feb., 1855, p. 258. 



GENERAL PROGRESS OF THE MISSION. 121 

By that date, also, British roads, canals, tele¬ 
graphs, railways, steamboats and industrial meth¬ 
ods were establishing an unanswerable argument 
for the superiority of education among Chris¬ 
tians, and effacing the prestige of Hindu antiq¬ 
uity while providing increased facilities for pros¬ 
ecution of Christian work.* 

On the other hand, opposition began to be 
more systematically organized. The society of 
educated but unbelieving Hindus, who, having 
lost respect for their native religion, had no faith 
in that of Christ, operated to promote unbelief. 
Infidel books were procured from Europe, which 
they reprinted and distributed among their coun¬ 
trymen. 

Mr. Morrison, who had already acted as a pio¬ 
neer in several directions, in the year 1855 made 
a tour of exploration from Lahore through the 
West and North of the Punjab, between the Je- 
lum and the Indus, and described new fields of 
missionary labor. Already the mission had 
schools in that region at Rawal Pindee, Jelum 
and Pind Dadal Khan,f and ere the close of 
next year the stations had been increased by the 
addition of Roorkee and Peshawar. 

About the same date occurred the annexation 
of Oude to the British dominions. “ This,” 

* F. M., June, 1855, pp. 2-6. f Ibicl., Sept., 1855, pp. 98-100. 


122 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

writes Mr. Ullmann, “ opens a new field of mis¬ 
sionary labor, and may perhaps by and by be 
taken up by the Furruckabad mission, as it is 
close to us, its western boundary stretching along 
the left bank of the Ganges almost from Allah¬ 
abad to Furruckabad. Three of our converts 
during the last year were from that province. 
Lucknow, the capital of Oude, numbers not less 
than three hundred thousand inhabitants—prob¬ 
ably more. Some estimate it as high as six 
hundred thousand or eight hundred thousand. 
Considering the nature of the country and its 
inhabitants, it will no doubt one day become a 
most important field for missionary operations.”* 
By the report of the year closing with October 
1,1856, the stations comprehended under the two 
missions of Lodiana and Furruckabad extended 
across the Punjab, including Peshawar, f Bawal 
Pindee, Lahore and Jalundar, and in a belt of the 
same direction south-eastward, including Lodiana, 
Sabathu, Ambala, Dehra, Saharunpur and Roor- 
kee; then, under the head of Furruckabad, Fut- 
tehghur, Agra, Mynpurie, Futtehpur, Banda and 
Allahabad. The stations connected with Fur¬ 
ruckabad lay at some distance from those of the 
Lodiana connection, but they continued the di¬ 
rection as a belt of Christian schools along the 

* F. M., Juae, 1856, p. 17. f Ibid., March, 1857, p. 333. 


GENERAL PROGRESS OF THE MISSION. 123 

great routes of communication between Bengal 
and Afghanistan from the junction of the Gan¬ 
ges and Jumna to the west bank of the Indus. 
The stations of Saharunpur, Dehra and Roorkee 
were manned by missionaries of the Reformed 
Presbyterian Church of the United States.* 
Over this field the men with whom our narra¬ 
tive began were dispersed at several important 
points. Morrison was at Rawal Pindee, where he 
had just organized a Christian church and school; 
Janvier was at Lodiana, together with a few fel¬ 
low-laborers of kindred devotion, sustaining the 
heavy work of that mother-mission and centre 
of the larger group of stations; Freeman was at 
Mynpurie alone, with only one or two native 
helpers, and Owen at Allahabad, having been 
recently transferred from the charge of the mis¬ 
sion college, which he had built up to an unex¬ 
pected prosperity, to other duties in which more 
of his time could be secured for translation and 
exposition of Scripture. They were associated 
with others no less zealous and laborious. Alto¬ 
gether, and without any invidious comparison 
with others or among themselves, the mission¬ 
aries who then occupied that ground as a har¬ 
monious company of Christian workers, both 
men and women, are entitled to one common 


F. M., April, 1865, p. 341. 


124 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

tribute of respect as the founders of the Church 
in Northern India, and so firmly was their work 
done, as far as it went, that even the terrible con¬ 
vulsion which upturned for a time the civil gov¬ 
ernment and broke to pieces the army, although 
it shook the structure of that mission Church, 
did not displace a single stone of its foundation. 


CHAPTER VIII. 


TRANSLATION AND PUBLICATION. 

O the mission work of preaching and teaching 



- 1 - it was found expedient to add that of writing 
and superintending the printing and publishing 
of books. Of course, in that department the 
object is to issue such works as shall commu¬ 
nicate Christian knowledge in a way to arrest 
attention. Their publication is effected by the 
agency of the missionaries themselves freely dis¬ 
tributing them to persons who can read and seem 
likely to make a proper use of them. On that 
head mistakes are no doubt often made and 
books given to persons who never read them, if 
they do not even destroy them. But many do 
read, and are thereby led to inquire further after 
the way of life. Upon their preaching-tours the 
missionaries take supplies of books and tracts 
with them, and give them away with the view of 
confirming and deepening the impression of their 
preaching. At the melas, where Hindus assem¬ 
ble in vast multitudes, they make a point of be- 


125 


126 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE . 

ing present with a goodly number of their printed 
messengers. Sometimes two or more missionaries 
go in company to these assemblages, and keep up 
the work of preaching and conversing with the 
people, and distributing books most of the time. 

At Allahabad the mission press was set up and 
conducted for several years by the Rev. Joseph 
Warren, and upon the removal of Mr. Warren 
to Agra, in 1851, was carried on by the Rev. 
Lawrence G. Hay.* 

An important agency in this work was the 
North India Bible Society, auxiliary to the Brit¬ 
ish and Foreign Bible Society, which was formed 
at Agra in the year 1845. It was constituted 
and supported by the missionaries and the 
friends of missions in Upper India. Though 
not enjoying a large income, that society proved 
to be eminently useful in “ promoting the trans¬ 
lation, and the revision of translations already 
made, of the Sacred Scriptures into several In¬ 
dian dialects, and the printing and circulating 
of the sacred volume.”f It was in connection 
with this institution that some of Mr. Owen’s 
most laborious work was executed, consisting 
chiefly in translation, revision of translation and 
exposition of Scripture. 

One of the earliest of these enterprises by the 

*F. Miss., Jan., 1852, p. 128. \ Ibid., May, 1852, p. 188. 


TRANSLATION AND PUBLICATION. 


127 


missionaries of Allahabad was that of a volume 
of Urdu sermons expository of select portions of 
Scripture, for which Mr. Owen undertook to fur¬ 
nish an exposition of some of the Psalms*—a 
work which ultimately extended to a commen¬ 
tary upon the whole book of Psalms. Among 
the resolutions adopted by the tentative meeting 
of Synod at Futtehghur, December, 1844, was 
one for expediting the translation into Hindi and 
Urdu of the standards of the Church, in which 
the Larger and Shorter Catechisms were assigned 
to the missionaries of Allahabad. By another a 
revision of the Hindi and Urdu versions of the 
Scriptures then in use was recommended as soon 
as the work could be done. The former resolu¬ 
tion was adopted by the first regular meeting, 
November, 1845, and a committee appointed to 
inquire into and report as to what had been done, 
and to recommend some plan for the accomplish¬ 
ment of that important object. The committee 
reported the action of the tentative meeting and 
that the translators had made considerable prog¬ 
ress, and recommended to the Synod that the 
Presbyteries be instructed to continue those com¬ 
mittees, directing them to make over their respect¬ 
ive portions to a committee of revision to be 
appointed by Synod, who should revise the 

*F. M., Jan., 1852, pp. 203-206. 


128 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


whole when completed. The report was accepted 
and adopted. 

Among the works prepared for worship and 
for instructing native Christians and inquirers, 
the book of psalms and hymns was prepared 
by Messrs. Janvier and Ullmann, and practical 
expositions of Isaiah, Daniel, the Creation and 
Fall of man by Mr. Owen.* As secretary of 
the Hindi sub-committee of the North India Bi¬ 
ble Society, Mr. Owen undertook to revise the 
Hindi translation of the Old Testament made by 
the Bev. William Bowley. The whole was care¬ 
fully compared with the Hebrew, and altered in 
so many places to make it more conformable to 
the original that the result was almost a new 
version. Of that work—to which the reviser, 
although he did not feel that it would be just to 
Mr. Bowley to place his name on the title-jiage, 
in a note prefixed assigns to him all the credit of 
original translation—the first volume, from Gen¬ 
esis to the Second Book of Kings inclusive, was 
printed in 1851 at the mission press of Allah¬ 
abad, then under the superintendence of the 
Bev. L. G. Hay. 

It was also thought desirable to draw up a sys¬ 
tematic treatise of Christian theology adapted to 
the understanding of the Hindu people and for 
*F. M., Oct., 1856, p. 154. 




TRANSLATION AND PUBLICATION. 


129 


purposes of education. This also was prepared 
by Mr. Owen. 

While engaged in these labors additional to 
the ordinary duties of the station, about the be¬ 
ginning of the year 1856, Mr. Owen felt called 
upon to submit to one of those trials incident to 
missionary life in a heathen land among the 
hardest to bear. With all the care expended in 
building up a system of instruction for heathen 
youth, it was still in the midst of heathen in¬ 
fluences, struggling against them and suffering 
from them—influences to which the missionaries 
could not subject their own children in that peri¬ 
od of life when the character is so largely formed 
by comparisons. Mr. and Mrs. Owen perceived 
that they ought no longer to delay the appre¬ 
hended separation. While he should remain at 
his work, Mrs. Owen undertook to bring their 
son to America for the further prosecution of 
his studies among his father’s kindred. Mr. 
Owen accompanied his wife and son as far as 
practicable, and parted from them on the 20th 
of February in the Bay of Bengal. 

It was the season of religious anniversaries in 
Calcutta. He accordingly remained a few days 
in that city for the purpose of attending some 
of the religious meetings, enjoying at the same 
time the hospitality and society of highly-valued 


130 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


friends in business circles as well as among mis¬ 
sionaries. At the Scottish Free church he had 
the pleasure of listening to the preaching of the 
Rev. John Milne, and at the Baptist church to 
that of Mr. Leslie; spent an evening with Dr. 
Mullens at his own house, where he met with the 
venerable missionary Lacroix; went out to see 
Dr. Duff, then residing with his daughter, Mrs. 
Watson, at some distance from Calcutta; and in 
passing through Serampore made the valuable 
acquaintance of Mr. Townsend, editor of the 
Friend of India. Returning to Calcutta, he 
visited the church mission school at Mirzapore, 
the Sanskrit college, the school of industrial art, 
the general hospital, the medical college, the Lon¬ 
don Missionary Society’s home, and other institu¬ 
tions of missionary and general Christian benev¬ 
olence. 

Mr. Owen’s return to Allahabad was a differ¬ 
ent kind of progress from that which he made in 
1841. Leaving Calcutta on the 1st of March, on 
the morning of the 5th he “ opened the carriage 
door in a delightful fragrance of mango blossoms 
within a few miles of Benares.” “ About half¬ 
past seven I came in sight of the Ganges, and 
soon found myself on the ghaut , surrounded by 
large athletic forms presenting a marked contrast 
to the diminutive Bengalis. I also heard my own 




TEA NS La TION AND PUBLICATION. 


131 


Urdu and Hindi again, and could scarcely real¬ 
ize that I had left the Bengali Schelcari mekari 
so far behind.” A partly-executed railway had 
wrought the change. 

March 9 Mr. Owen preached at Allahabad in 
Hindi, and resumed his usual lecture in the after¬ 
noon, and on Monday recommenced his Hindu- 
stanee worship with the boys at the usual morn¬ 
ing hour. Among other occupations, he writes 
of being at work upon his exposition of the 
Psalms, the printing of which was going for¬ 
ward. 

For many months his journal-letters constitute 
one long but diversified “ Tristia” containing de¬ 
tails of the station, of his friends, the tenderest 
and warmest expressions of attachment and re¬ 
spect for the Munnises, the Hays, and others, their 
toils, their joys, their sorrows and bereavements, 
and their mutual support, their social work and 
devotions, their hopes and fears for the native 
youth under their charge, in the midst of which 
not one harsh or censorious word occurs. Every 
day’s news is the record of Christian work, of 
Christian life, in a little isolated Christian com¬ 
munity, breathing nothing but tender Christian 
affection, and closes with some variation on the 
same refrain—a prayer for his absent wife and 
child. 


132 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

“April 10, 1856 .—The ex-king of Oude en¬ 
tered Allahabad yesterday morning under a sa¬ 
lute of twenty-one guns. He is on his way to 
Calcutta, and some say to England. The latter 
I doubt. I question if he knows where England 
is. He has lost his kingdom without firing a shot 
in its defence. It ought to have been taken from 
him long ago. The arrangements for its govern¬ 
ment under the company’s rule are going on 
quietly and surely. Oude is now an open mis¬ 
sion-field. I have offered myself to the mission 
to send me to Banda or to Oude, or to wherever 
else they may think best. They think that I 
ought to stay here for the present.” The king¬ 
dom of Oude was formally annexed to the Brit¬ 
ish possessions on February 7, 1856, by the gov¬ 
ernor-general, the marquis of Dalhousie. 

“April 22. —Mr. Bradford returned this even¬ 
ing from Oude. He gives a glowing account of 
the resources of the country, and of the civility 
of the inhabitants and their joy at the establish¬ 
ment of the British rule. None regret it except 
the chakladars and others who formerly had it in 
their power to oppress the people.”* 

Meanwhile, in addition to all his other occupa¬ 
tions, Mr. Owen was working up his exposition 
of the Psalms in Urdu, his Hindi New Testa- 


* MS. journal of 1856. 


TEA NS LA TION AND PUBLICATION. 


133 


ment and Urdu theology in parallel lines of la¬ 
bor, carrying on the printing of the first at the 
same time, and wishing he could get on faster. 

“May 19 .—The sickness and mortality around 
us are very melancholy.” Mr. Hay and his fam¬ 
ily had to retreat to Landour. Other missionary 
families had also gone to the mountains, and many 
of the natives connected with the school were ill 
of fever. Still, under the oppressively hot east¬ 
erly wind, Mr. Owen pressed forward his work. 

Mrs. Owen landed in England on the 24th of 
May, and while enjoying a brief visit to her na¬ 
tive land, and to some friends of earlier days, 
entered her son for that interval at Eton School. 

At the mela of that year Mr. Owen had the 
assistance of only native helpers. “ Simeon and 
George were on the ground when I arrived, and 
Mirza and Caleb, Yunas and Joel, soon came. I 
then divided the forces, stationing Simeon, Yunas 
and Caleb at one place and Mirza, George and 
Joel at another, and divided my own time as 
equally as possible between the two stations. In 
this way we kept up continued preaching and dis¬ 
cussion at each station until near twelve o’clock. 
I was particularly pleased with the spirited man¬ 
ner in which the preachers carried on their labors. 
The day was cloudy, without rain, and therefore 
very pleasant. 


134 TIIE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

“Aug. 16 .—Tucker has been writing to me 
* about a new edition of the Hindi Bible toward 
which he and his brother are ready to give 
rs. 4000. He wishes a standard edition brought 
out, and I have proposed that it be in one vol¬ 
ume instead of in three, as at present. We have 
both written to the Agra Bible Society on the 
subject. 

“ Sept. 26 .—Have just received orders from the 
Agra Bible Society to enlarge the edition of the 
Hindi New Testament from two thousand five 
hundred to five thousand copies, and, besides, to 
print five thousand copies extra of Luke and 
Acts, to be bound up together, and five thousand 
copies of Matthew and John. 

“Oct. 7 .—We had a pleasant meeting of Pres¬ 
bytery this evening. Gopinath, the moderator, 
preached a good Hindustanee sermon, after 
which we proceeded to business. Among other 
items, we received reports from the catechists of 
their labors during the last five months. George 
and Joel applied to be received as catechists un¬ 
der the care and direction of the Presbytery. 
We proceeded at once to examine them, and kept 
them under examination until after ten o’clock. 
The examination was all in Hindustanee, and it 
was pleasant to see the interest the native audi¬ 
ence seemed to take in it. The result was that 


TRANSLATION AND PUBLICATION. 


135 


they were received. We have now under the care 
and direction of the Presbytery six catechists— 
viz., Mirza, Simeon, Yunas, George, Kasim Ali 
and Joel.” 

In November, 1856, Mr. Butler of the Meth¬ 
odist Episcopal Church of America visited Al¬ 
lahabad in the course of a tour undertaken for 
the purpose of ascertaining where his Church 
could be most useful in missionary work in 
Northern India. Mr. Owen had received letters 
from him, and had expressed a readiness to afford 
him any aid in his power. 

'‘Nov. 21 .—This afternoon, while I was at din¬ 
ner, a dak carriage came to the door, and the 
servants came telling me that a gentleman was 
inquiring after me. I went out, and found Mr. 
and Mrs. Butler. They had started from Ben¬ 
ares to go through Oude to Bohilcund, but sud¬ 
denly turned and came to Allahabad. I had 
them at once seated at the table with me, and 
have given them a room in which I hope they will 
be comfortable. Mr. Butler has been asking me 
a good deal about India this evening, and, with 
maps spread before us, I have been giving him 
all the information of the kind he requires which 
I possess. He appears to be a very good man, 
well informed and of good abilities. He pro¬ 
poses going to Bohilcund, and thence down to 


136 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE . 


.Benares in time for the conference in January, 
and talks of joining me in Bundelcund to look 
at that field should he, after surveying Bohil- 
cund, not fix upon that as the field of labor for 
their Church.” The conference here referred to 
was a general meeting of missionaries called to 
meet in Benares. 

“ Mr. Butler has applied to our mission for a 
native assistant. He comes from our own coun¬ 
try, and in an honest manly way asks for assist¬ 
ance. I applied to the other brethren, but no 
one seems able to give him a man. I have there¬ 
fore given him Joel, and, with the sanction of 
the mission, poor Joel is preparing to go. It is a 
bitter trial to him and a severe one to me, but it is 
our duty as well as our privilege to help a Chris¬ 
tian brother in need. It is doing what we would 
be thankful to have done for us in similar circum¬ 
stances. Joel is an excellent young man; I have 
nothing but good to say of him, and can without 
reserve recommend him to Mr. Butler as worthy 
of all confidence.” 

Mr. Butler was then on his way to Bareilly, 
the station selected for the mission of the Meth¬ 
odist Episcopal Church. 

“Feb. 5 .—Mullens and Beaumont arrived this 
evening. At the close of the Benares conference 
they started for Agra, Delhi and other places up 


TRANSLATION AND PUBLICATION. 


137 


the country, and are now on their return to Cal¬ 
cutta. 

“Feb. 6 .—Went with Mullens and Beaumont 
this morning to the mela and fort.” Mr. Mul¬ 
lens took photographic views of the principal ob¬ 
jects of interest, making also particular inquiries 
about all—inquiries which few residents of the 
place were as well qualified to answer as Mr. 
Owen. 

“Feb. 16 .—My dear venerable friend Mr. La¬ 
croix left me this afternoon for Benares. I have 
indeed had a treat in his society. He is in every 
sense a noble man, and his fine natural and ac¬ 
quired endowments are sanctified in a very emi¬ 
nent degree by God’s grace. . . . His visit to me 
has been like the visit of an angel. ... We are 
daily expecting the MacMullins from Calcutta. 
Hay told me to-day that he had heard from 
them from Benares.” The persons here men¬ 
tioned were Mr. and Mrs. Kobert MacMullin, 
who had left Philadelphia on the 11th of the pre¬ 
ceding September, and after a voyage round the 
Cape were now coming up the country to their 
appointed station at Futtehghur. On the 18th 
of February, Mr. Owen welcomed their arrival 
at Allahabad. 

Mr. Owen’s Christian charity, his cordial court¬ 
esy and sound judgment, secured for him the 


138 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

highest respect and confidence of British resi¬ 
dents in both the civil and the military service. 
With some of them it amounted to affectionate 
friendship, and many were ready to contribute 
generously to enterprises in which he was con¬ 
cerned. Episcopalians, Baptists, Methodists, who 
seemed to truly love the Lord, were alike wel¬ 
comed to his house and taken to his heart. His 
long, almost-uninterrupted residence at Allah¬ 
abad, with the interest which he took in its pub¬ 
lic affairs, rendered him in many respects a val¬ 
uable adviser to the officers of government. His 
discrimination of character, though softened by 
Christian charity, was quick and clear. Men 
who resisted the cause he loved or sought to de¬ 
feat efforts on behalf of it did not escape a keen 
criticism of their action, although, where not 
necessary to a public good, such dissections were 
confided to his journal alone. At the date to 
which our narrative has arrived, by reason of 
death and changes in office and return of mis¬ 
sionaries to America, he had become one of the 
oldest foreign residents at the station, and his 
opinions the more highly esteemed by men of 
all the Christian denominations there repre¬ 
sented. 

“March 10, 1857 .—Our new governor-general 
lacks the pre-eminent ability of Lord Dalhousie, 


TRANSLATION AND PUBLICATION 


139 


and we are approaching a crisis in which a man 
of pre-eminent ability will be required.” 

March 21 he writes: “ There are signs of trou¬ 
ble abroad in the native community. The Sepoys 
are becoming troublesome and mutinous. Hith¬ 
erto the matter has been dealt with leniently, but 
the probability is that it must be put down with 
a strong hand. The chief trouble has been at 
Barrackpore and Berhampore. I got a letter 
from Beaumont the other day, who wrote that 
they were obliged to send a steamer off in haste 
to Maulmein to bring up a European regiment 
for putting down a mutiny at Barrackpore. Sev¬ 
eral regiments have lately become mutinous and 
given no little anxiety. The Nineteenth was 
disbanded the other day at Barrackpore. The 
Mohammedans talk of wishing to massacre all 
the infidel English. God is our protector.” 

Mrs. Owen had now reached the home of her 
husband’s relations, at Bedford, in the State of 
New York, to whose care their son was to be 
entrusted for his education. 


CHAPTER IX. 


THE MISSION AT ALLAHABAD DURING THE SEPOY 
MUTINY ; 

APPREHENSIONS of danger had been 
abroad in the atmosphere of India for 
weeks. Rumors vague and authorless were 
passed from neighbor to neighbor, and the Euro¬ 
pean residents scarcely knew to what sources they 
were indebted for the impressions of alarm they 
received. 

On the 14th of May, 1857, Mr. Owen had 
been busy all day translating and explaining the 
Scriptures for the pupils of his school and his 
little congregation of converts, and with a view 
to that Christian reading public to which he 
looked forward in faith as the fruit of missionary 
effort. Toward evening he rose from his work 
and went out to a friend’s house to learn if any 
positive news had arrived in the course of the 
day. His friend Mr. Court, the magistrate of 
Allahabad in the East India Company’s service, 
had just come from the fort and was in possession 
of the latest military intelligence. It was to some 


the mission in the SEPOY MUTINY. 141 


extent positive enough. Dissatisfaction existed 
extensively in the native army. The actual dis¬ 
banding at Barrackpore was already known. 
Other cases of insubordination were now reported 
at Calcutta, at Madras and in the Punjab, and at 
Ambala, Lucknow, Benares, Meerut and Agra it 
was told that things looked threatening. “ And 
here,” said Mr. Court, “they are getting guns 
into position in the fort. There is a suppressed 
rumor among the natives of an intended general 
massacre of the Europeans at the station.” 

Mr. Owen’s family were still absent in the 
United States, but, over and above the danger 
threatening the Europeans, his fellow-mission¬ 
aries and himself, the fate which might befall the 
Christian converts of his charge and whether 
they would prove faithful in the day of trial oc¬ 
casioned him great anxiety. Next morning rose 
peacefully. At an early hour he called at the 
house of one of his fellow-missionaries, and 
there heard of inflammatory notices in circula¬ 
tion among the natives. The character of the 
military forces at the place also created appre¬ 
hension, and thus he wrote: 

“The Sixth regiment of North India, now 
stationed here, is said to be in a very disaffected 
state. There are no European troops at this 
place. It is very wrong to leave so large a sta- 


142 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

tion and magazine so unprotected. A few compa¬ 
nies of Sikhs have lately been got into the fort, 
and the whole garrison is in their hands. They 
may prove loyal in case of an outbreak; most 
people think they will. . . . Hitherto I have kept 
my mind easy, hoping that the storm might blow 
over without much injury, but the events of the 
last few days up the country are of a very alarm¬ 
ing character. I have received a letter from Yere 
dated Agra, May 11, in which he says that they 
had learned by telegraph from Meerut of a mu¬ 
tiny of the Third native cavalry, which had set 
fire to its own lines and to several bungalows, and 
killed and wounded some European officers and 
soldiers. Afterward we heard that the dak from 
Meerut was stopped, and that the telegraph-wires 
were cut. Then came in alarming rumors of the 
state of things in this city, of the willingness on 
the part of a large number to join the Sixth reg¬ 
iment in breaking open the jail, plundering the 
city and massacring the European residents. A 
public notice of a conciliatory kind sent through 
the city by Mr. Court has tended greatly to quiet 
the minds of the people. 

“May 16 .—Last night I drove to Mr. Court’s 
to get the news from up the country. Full par¬ 
ticulars from Meerut have not yet reached us, for 
there is no dak on that road from a nearer point 


THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 143 


than Allygurh. The attack appears to have 
taken place last Sunday night (10th inst.) and 
to have come chiefly from the Third regiment of 
native cavalry, though the Eleventh native in¬ 
fantry is also implicated, as well as several 
others. Regimental lines and government offices 
have been burned down, and a vast number of 
private bungalows, the jails also, and the felons 
let loose. The telegraph-office has been burned 
and all the dak horses cut to pieces. The coun¬ 
try for thirty miles around is said to have joined 
in revolt. Mr. Colvin, the lieutenant-governor, 
has telegraphed from Agra down to this station 
that the treasure at Meerut is safe, and that they 
are forming parties to scour the country. At 
Meerut they have three European regiments. 

“ When I came home, I found the Munnises 
in a state of great alarm. Simeon had just been 
telling them that there was a panic and religious 
frenzy in the city, that an outbreak might be ex¬ 
pected at any moment, and that the missionaries 
would be the first objects of attack. Hitherto 
my rest at night has not been disturbed by these 
things, but I did not sleep much last night, after 
such excitement. I had, however, a comfortable 
season of prayer and meditation on the divine 
word. ‘The foundation of God standeth sure, 
having this seal: The Lord knoweth them that 


144 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

are his/ I came to India to give my life for this 
land; my life is in God’s hands, to be disposed of 
as he shall see best for the interests of his own 
Church. I have been a very unprofitable serv¬ 
ant ; if God sees best now to remove me, he can 
easily fill my place with one far more faithful 
and efficient. May I be found in Christ!” 

On the 31st of May, Mr. Owen received a let¬ 
ter from Mr. Freeman of Futtehghur, bringing 
intelligence that all the missionaries in Delhi 
had been murdered, and that in the massacre 
there were not less than two hundred European 
and East-Indian victims. As yet few of the par¬ 
ticulars were certainly known at Allahabad. 

“ June 4 .—Last Sabbath evening, about church¬ 
time, Mr. Mantell of the railway drove over to say 
that we were in great danger, that the people at 
the railway-station had all been warned into the 
station, and that an attack was expected. We 
got through the night without any disturbance. 
On Monday morning I went over to the station 
to ascertain the true cause of alarm. It was a 
telegraphic message from Sir Henry Lawrence, 
at Lucknow, that the Sepoys there had mutinied 
on Saturday night, that they had a fight, and 
that three European officers had been wounded 
and three killed.* Etaweh also had been burn- 

* At Lucknow the mutiny broke out on the 30th of May. 


THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 145 


ed, and Mr. Hume, the magistrate, escaped in an 
ayah’s dress. On Sunday night the mutineers at 
Lucknow made another attack and killed some 
Europeans, but were driven out from the station 
fifteen miles. We were apprehensive lest they 
might come this way, but afterward heard that 
they had gone off toward Seetapore, in a north¬ 
westerly direction from Lucknow, and we were 
consequently anxious about that station and Fut- 
tehghur. 

“ June 5 , Friday .—We have had no mail from 
Cawnpore for three days past. This morning 
the mail from Calcutta came in, and the man 
who drove the cart brought the news that Be¬ 
nares was in a blaze, and that he could not come 
through that station. We are now all ordered 
into the fort to-night. It is supposed that the 
mutineers from Benares will make a dash at Al¬ 
lahabad, and arrangements have been made to 
meet them. We are all gathering up a few ar¬ 
ticles of clothing to take with us into the fort: 
‘No beds, no baggage; light kits the order of 
the day/ Gopinath says he will not go, and 
prefers remaining here, for he says the Sikhs 
may turn and butcher us all. 

“ June 9 , Tuesday .—Here I am in the fort, 
living in a small tent with all the property I 
have left in the world comprised in a few 
10 


146 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

changes of clothes, my Hebrew Bible, Greek 
Testament, Turretin’s Theology , Witsius’s Econo¬ 
my of the Covenants , and a few other odd vol¬ 
umes. All my furniture, my library and most 
of my private manuscripts and papers have been 
consumed. Our dear Jumna house lias been 
burned. The church has been robbed, also the 
mission college, and the whole place completely 
sacked. The native Christians have been scat¬ 
tered I know not where. I can only see the 
place from the ramparts of the fort, but cannot 
go there to inquire; nor have I yet been able to 
ascertain the particulars of their condition. We 
feared they were all murdered, but hear that their 
lives have been spared. The stations and canton¬ 
ments of Allahabad are in ashes. Mr. Hay’s 
house has been burned, and we hear that the 
press has also gone. Scarcely a bungalow seems 
to have been left. The work of conflagration is 
still in progress. Day and night new fires are 
added to the vast scene of desolation and smok¬ 
ing embers. Here we are, shut up in the fort, 
and not an effort has been made to arrest the 
work of destruction. 

“ On Friday night, June 5,1 assisted in watch¬ 
ing the fort with a company of volunteers, for we 
had no European troops and were quite at the 
mercy of the Sepoys and Sikhs. Of course I 


THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 147 


got no sleep that night, and went home to our 
bungalow on Saturday and got a good rest un¬ 
der the punkah . All there was so quiet that 1 
felt strongly inclined to remain next night. Go- 
pinath and his family had spent two or three 
nights in the fort, but thought themselves more 
insecure there than at our house. They were 
extremely afraid not only of the Sepoys, but also 
of the Sikhs. I tried to get them to come in on 
Saturday night, but they chose to remain, and I 
left Kalian there with an order to make them as 
comfortable as possible. All seemed to be ex¬ 
pecting something that night, and were on the 
alert. The volunteers, amounting to some eighty, 
were divided into three squads—one to 23rotect the 
flagstaff, where it was supposed an enemy might 
attempt to scale the walls, another to protect a 
weak point on the Jumna, and the third to be 
with the main guard at the gate. At nine o’clock 
the volunteers met and were told off to their re¬ 
spective duties for the night. The moon was full 
and shining beautifully. It was impossible to 
realize, when coming through the bazar, that 
danger was near. The shops were open and the 
people were quietly at their occupations. 

“ Arrangements had been made to meet the 
mutineers on their arrival from Benares. A de¬ 
tachment of the Sixth regiment native infantry 


148 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


was stationed at the Daragunge bridge, with two 
nine-pounders and a complement of native artil¬ 
lerymen. Sowars (native cavalry) were placed on 
the Benares road to watch the approach of men 
from that direction, and on their coming to fall 
back at a gallop and to give notice to the officer 
commanding at the bridge. Lieutenant Alexan¬ 
der, with his irregular cavalry, was at Alopee 
Bagh. It was therefore hoped that if the muti¬ 
neers came they would meet with a warm recep¬ 
tion and soon be overcome. I had little confidence 
in the regiment, and in this feeling was far from 
being alone. All the officers, however, placed 
implicit reliance on the Sepoys, perpetually sing¬ 
ing the praises of their loyalty. They appeared 
to me the worst set of Sepoys I ever saw; their 
countenances seemed equal to any amount of 
barbarity and brutality. My imagination had 
probably been tinged by recent occurrences else¬ 
where. Having no European troops, we were 
shut up to hope for the best. What madness in 
the authorities to leave such a garrison as this, 
with thirty-three thousand stand of arms, en¬ 
tirely in the hands of natives! Had the Sikhs 
chosen to join the regiment against us, not one 
of us would have been left alive. 

“On Saturday evening, about nine o’clock, 
Court walked up to me as I was standing near 


the mission in the sepoy MUTINY. 149 

the old pillar, remarking, ‘You 'must not be sur¬ 
prised if we have something to night, for the tel¬ 
egraphic wire from Benares has just been cut in 
the midst of a message/ requesting me at the 
same time to stay with the ladies if anything 
should occur. I came up and joined in worship 
with the Hays and Munnises, and was on my 
way back to the tent when we began to hear a 
rattling of musketry in cantonments. The alarm 
was immediately sounded, and all the volunteers 
rushed to their posts. I ran up and gave notice 
to our friends ; they were soon out on the balcony, 
where in a few minutes all the women, leaving the 
tents, were collected. Hay, Munnis and myself 
then closed all the doors leading from the stair¬ 
ways and stood with loaded pistols, ready to shoot 
down the first native who might attempt an as¬ 
sault upon the ladies and children. We saw a 
native quietly sitting among the ladies with a 
sword in his hand, and we disarmed him and 
turned him out in double-quick time. The rat¬ 
tling of musketry continued about half an hour, 
the sound reaching us from various points be¬ 
tween cantonments and the bridge. We thought 
that the mutineers.had probably got in and made 
a combined attack at those various points, and 
hoped they were getting a good cutting up. 

“ A few days previously the Sepoys at Allah- 


150 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


abad bad seized and delivered up to the author¬ 
ities two men who, they said, had come from the 
city to incite them to rebellion. They had also 
expressed very deep regret that the ladies of the 
station had not all assembled in one building and 
placed themselves under their protection instead 
of coming into the fort. On the previous Mon¬ 
day they offered their services to the government 
to go and fight the rebels, and on Saturday even¬ 
ing at six o’clock, on parade, they received the 
thanks of the governor-general and acknowl¬ 
edged the courtesy by hearty cheers. The officers’ 
wives were, of course, deeply anxious about their 
husbands, who were in the midst of all that fir¬ 
ing. One after another came to me asking, ‘ Do 
you think the Sepoys will be loyal?’ I could 
only say, in the effort to comfort them, ‘ I hope 
so.’ Others were highly indignant that any such 
question should be asked or that the least doubt 
should be entertained of their loyalty. 

“ Some time after the firing ceased we saw a 
gentleman coming from the main gate to the 
barracks. Hitherto we knew nothing of what 
had occurred. I went and opened a door, and 
called him. His first words were, ‘Alexander 
is lying dead outside, but tell Mrs. Harvard and 
Mrs. Simpson that their husbands are safe here 
in the fort, although Colonel Simpson’s horse has 


THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 151 


been riddled through with bullets. The Sixth 
are in open mutiny.’ There was a general rush 
to me to know what had happened. The ladies 
who a few minutes before were so strongly stand¬ 
ing up for the Sepoys were utterly confounded. 
I went to Mrs. Simpson and delivered the mes¬ 
sage. She seized my hand, and fell on my arm 
with a loud cry. In a few minutes Colonel 
Simpson came up with his clothes covered with 
blood, and gave an account of his almost mirac¬ 
ulous escape. I must, however, mention what 
occurred at the gate before the colonel came up 
to his quarters, which was the turning-point with 
us in the fort. 

“ The one hundred Sepoys at the main gate 
who were mounted on the main guard were com¬ 
manded by Lieutenant Brasyer to give up their 
guns. Two nine-pounders were brought close to 
them, and the torches ready to touch them off in 
case of disobedience. The volunteers were also 
before them with loaded muskets cocked and fin¬ 
gers on-the triggers. At the command to pile 
their arms there seemed a slight hesitation, but 
they soon gave them up, then partly rushed 
back to them, but, finding themselves over¬ 
powered, eventually yielded. This was the crit¬ 
ical moment for the four hundred Sikhs to join 
them had they been so disposed. Had they done 


152 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


so, not one of us could have escaped. The mas¬ 
sacre would have been universal, and then the 
Allahabad fort, with its vast magazine and ar¬ 
mory, would have been in the hands of the muti¬ 
neers, and the whole of the North-western Prov¬ 
inces must have gone from under British rule. 
You may imagine our relief and joy when word 
was quietly passed on to us, 4 The Sikhs are 
staunch.’ ” 

Mr. Owen was not then aware, but subsequently 
he mentions, that a train had been laid to the mag¬ 
azine, and an officer appointed to fire it should the 
fort fall into the hands of the mutineers. 

“ The Sepoys were all ready to start an out¬ 
break in the fort, for their muskets were loaded 
and, contrary to orders, capped, and in this con¬ 
dition were taken from them. ... It may be said 
that, under God, we owe our safety to Brasyer 
especially and to the volunteers. Most of these 
are railway-people, and for securing them we owe 
all thanks to Mr. Hodgson, who sent out train 
after train and brought them in from the dis¬ 
tance of more than twenty miles. Their pres¬ 
ence doubtless did much to turn the scale in our 
favor, for I have no confidence in the Sikhs. 
At Benares they actually did fire upon the Eu¬ 
ropean soldiers, but instantly received a shower 
of grape which cut up about eighty of them. 


THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 153 


They then turned and fought with the Euro¬ 
peans against the Sepoys. 

“ Meanwhile, Harvard and Hicks were at the 
bridge with the guns. The only Europeans with 
them were two young ensigns just come out from 
England. An order was sent down for Harvard 
to bring the guns back into the fort under an 
escort of sixteen Sepoys. The order reached 
him about eight o’clock. He sent out word to 
make ready to move off the guns. The havildar 
returned and informed him that the Sepoys re¬ 
fused to obey. Hicks went out and tried to rea¬ 
son with them, but, instead of listening to reason, 
one man leveled his musket at him, which, how¬ 
ever, was immediately knocked down by his 
neighbor. About this time the Sepoys at the 
bridge sent up three rockets as a signal to those 
in the cantonments that they had commenced. 
These were seen from the fort, but were taken at 
the time for fireworks connected with some native 
wedding. The outbreak in cantonments instant- 
ly began, and the Sepoys at the bridge took the 
guns and went off in that direction. After they 
left, Harvard walked up to Alopee Bagh, where 
Alexander was stationed with his irregular cav¬ 
alry. Alexander immediately had his horse 
ready and gave one to Harvard, and got seve¬ 
ral men into the saddle as soon as possible. The 


154 TIIE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


deserters were overtaken, but in the attempt to 
rescue the guns Alexander was killed; his cav¬ 
alry joined the mutineers, and Harvard, finding 
himself alone and very near the parade-ground, 
fell back to the fort, which he reached in safety. 
The guns were taken to the parade-ground, which 
they reached about nine o’clock. Colonel Simp¬ 
son soon after leaving the mess heard an alarm at 
the parade-ground, and rode over; as he passed 
each guard he was saluted with a shower of bul¬ 
lets. The other officers had goue over, and some 
of them had already been shot down. The Se¬ 
poys sounded an alarm on purpose to call out 
the officers and shoot them all at once. The 
dead bodies of seven are still lying there. Col¬ 
onel Simpson rode on to the treasury, where he 
was met by another shower of bullets, and as he 
passed the mess-house the guard there gave him 
another volley. His horse was shot in many 
places, yet had sufficient strength left to bring 
his rider to the fort. The colonel heard the bul¬ 
lets flying about his head; one hit the top of his 
cap and a spent one his wrist, which was slightly 
lamed. His clothes were drenched with his 
horse’s blood. Lieutenant Currie had his horse 
shot from under him, but managed to escape. 
Captain Gordon was concealed by some of the 
Sepoys until the firing had ceased, and then 


THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 155 


quietly taken by them to a safe place and re¬ 
quested to flee to the fort as fast as possible. 
Out of seventeen officers who sat down to dinner 
at the mess on Saturday evening, only three are 
known to survive; it is possible, however, that 
others may yet turn up, for we have received 
some vague native rumors of Europeans hiding 
in the jungles in a most destitute state. 

“ When the guns left the bridge, about twenty 
Sepoys took Hicks and the two young ensigns 
prisoners, and conducted them through the Da- 
ragunge up to the station, and left them at 
Birch’s house, and went on to join the main 
party, who were robbing the government treas¬ 
ury at the collector’s cutchery. Hicks and the 
ensigns then walked on to Staig’s bungalow, took 
a horse and buggy, and, instead of driving di¬ 
rectly down the fort road, where they would 
doubtless have been intercepted, drove over to¬ 
ward the Ganges, left the buggy there and went 
on till they reached the river, and plunged in. 
They swam down stream about a mile and a half, 
crossed to the Jhoosie side, made a detour of two 
or three miles through the country, having black¬ 
ened themselves with mud, reached the side of 
the river opposite the fort, again plunged in, and 
came out by the fort near the flagstaff. They 
then crept around close under the fort till the}' 


156 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

reached the entrance of the main gate, where 
the volunteers, having disarmed the Sepoys, were 
with the Sikhs, keeping guard. I was conversing 
with Hicks’s sister in the balcony, when a call was 
made to her: ‘ Mrs. Hicks, Mrs. Hicks! somebody 
is knocking at your door.’ She ran, and found 
her brother and sister-in-law happy once more. 
Morning came, and nothing was heard of poor 
Birch; during Sunday we heard of his death. 

“ Toward morning the colonel went out to the 
one hundred Sepoys of the Sixth who had been 
disarmed, and told them that if they would go 
home and not join the rebels they should get 
pensions according to the time they had served 
the government. And this to men who a few 
hours before had laid down their muskets loaded 
and capped, and whose comrades, in conspiracy 
with them, had butchered so many Europeans! 
Who is to know whether they went home like 
good boys or not? 

“ Morning came, and such a dismal morning I 
have never seen. I walked out to the main gate, 
and there saw a dooly in which were the remains 
of poor Alexander lying in the riding-dress in 
which he was shot down. He was a very amia¬ 
ble young man; we all deeply lament his loss in 
the bloom of life. His body was laid at evening 
in the trenches. 


THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 157 


“ The morning passed on, and until eleven 
o’clock our bungalow appeared, from the top of 
the barracks, all safe. In reality, however, it 
was not so. From an early hour the pathdn of 
Durgabad, from whom we rent the land and to 
whom we have shown nothing but kindness, was 
there, with some hundred of low-caste Moham¬ 
medans, plundering all our property and burn¬ 
ing our books. Of this I knew nothing at the 
time. Mr. Spry (the Cliurcli-of-England chap¬ 
lain) appointed a short service at twelve o’clock 
in the veranda of the barracks. Just before it 
began I ran up to the top of the barracks, and 
saw the smoke rising from the roof of our bun¬ 
galow. It caused a bitter pang, but I was en¬ 
abled with calmness to look up to God and say, 
‘ All is right. Thy will be done!’ As we sat at 
worship in the veranda I could see the column of 
smoke rising from the roof. Mr. Spry read the 
eighty-sixth psalm and the ninth chapter of Dan¬ 
iel, and prayed, and then gave the Bible to me. 
I selected the forty-sixth psalm and read it, with 
a few cursory remarks, and prayed, and then Mr. 
Spry pronounced the benediction. The service 
was very short and attended by few. Most of 
the gentlemen were engaged in guarding the fort, 
and several ladies were overwhelmed with grief 
at the recent loss of their husbands. 


158 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


“ The burning went on during the whole of 
Sunday, and no effort was made from the fort to 
arrest it. Some sixty or seventy of the First 
Madras fusileers (Europeans) arrived from Be¬ 
nares, and were brought across by a steamer that 
happened to be here. In the afternoon the reb¬ 
els came close under the fort and burned the bun¬ 
galow at Arail. The incendiaries continued the 
whole night unchecked. 

“ On Monday (yesterday) we heard that the 
Mohammedans had planted their standard in the 
city, and that a Maulawi at the gardens had set 
up as the lieutenant-governor of the king of 
Delhi, and offers two thousand five hundred ru¬ 
pees for Mr. Court’s head. The parade-ground 
is occupied by Mohammedan troops, and it is at 
present impossible to recover the bodies of the 
seven officers who fell there. We hear distress¬ 
ing reports about our native Christians and Go- 
pinath. Last night a company of three women 
and seven children found their way into the fort 
in a most desolate condition. . . . Mrs. Thomas, in 
trying to escape, was overtaken by a Mohamme¬ 
dan, who struck her in the neck with a sword. 
She fell with a faint cry. She then got up and 
walked a few steps, and sat down and asked for 
water. The Mohammedan ran up, saying, ‘ You 
want water, do you ? ’ and gave her another sword- 


THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 159 


cut on the other side of her neck, which ended her 
life. He also killed one of the children.” Re¬ 
ports of other like atrocities were brought in by 
the same parties. 

“ We are almost starving here, living on half 
rations. We can get nothing from the outside. 
The people of the town seem determined to starve 
us out—at least, the Mohammedan portion—and 
have forbidden supplies of any kind to be sent 
in. The commissariat was very badly supplied, 
and we are all suffering. The heat, too, is ex¬ 
cessive, and the filth allowed to accumulate 
abominable. It will be wonderful if we have 
not a pestilence should we stay here long and 
things remain as they are. I have no quarters, 
but sleep in a tent at night. 1 have no furniture 
except two chairs. I care little for my furniture, 
but my dear books are a sad loss, for I do not 
know how to get on without them. But God 
will provide. 

“June 10, Wednesday .—This morning Major 
Byres, Mr. Snow and several others came in 
from about twenty-four miles up the railway. I 
was at the Jumna water-gate on Monday, and 
took in a letter brought from Mr. Snow, telling 
us of their danger and where they were. Mr. 
Court sent fourteen Sowars of the Twenty-fifth 
irregular cavalry who remained loyal, promising 


1G0 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


them fourteen hundred rupees if they brought in 
the whole company safe. Byres and his party 
were on a tank, surrounded by thousands of na¬ 
tives thirsting for their blood. Their bungalows 
were burned and their property plundered before 
their eyes. The Sowars reached them yesterday 
afternoon. Just as the moment of deliverance 
had come Mrs. Byres died of sunstroke. They 
brought the body on to the Ganges, and were in 
the act of reading the burial-service over it, when 
an alarm was given that the enemy was upon 
them. Hastily they covered it up, and escaped. 
They walked their horses all night, avoiding vil¬ 
lages, coming through ravines, and keeping quite 
out of the way of the city in their approach to 
the fort. 

“ June 11 .—This morning Mrs. Boilard found 
her way into the fort. We had heard that she 
and her husband had been killed; yesterday a 
message came that she was alive. Two Sowars 
were sent out for her; they got a third horse, 
dressed her up as a Sowar, placed her on the 
horse, and thus brought her in. On the way 
they were asked who the third rider was. They 
said they had with them one of the Maulawi’s 
Sowars. She says the rebels are enjoying a 
glorious revel at the station. Brandy is selling 
for a pice a bottle, champagne and beer for al- 


THE MISSION IN TIIE SEPOY MUTINY. 161 


most nothing. A butcher bought Mr. Court’s 
carriage and pair for thirty rupees. Mrs. Boi- 
lard’s husband was alive at ten a. m. on Sunday; 
since then she has not heard from him. We have 
been cheered this afternoon by the arrival of Col¬ 
onel Neill, who behaved so gallantly in the out¬ 
break at Benares, and to whom, under God, that 
station owes its continued safety. 

“ June 12 .—Colonel Neill seems determined 
not to let the grass grow under his feet. Imme¬ 
diately after his arrival yesterday he had prepa¬ 
ration made for an attack on Daragunge. This 
morning at daybreak all was astir. Daragunge, 
a nest of Pryagwals, has been very troublesome 
in stopping communication over the Ganges. 
When, this morning, the fusileers were getting 
ready for their work, Colonel Neill, to whom I 
had not been introduced, came and spoke kindly 
to me and said he was ‘going to clear away that 
village out there.’ The troops were soon moving 
out of the fort—sixty fusileers, three hundred 
Sikhs and thirty cavalry. They marched off in 
the direction of Alopee Bagh, there to wait for 
the cannonading to cease. The guns from two 
batteries opened about sunrise. I stood near the 
outer battery, and saw where almost every ball 
struck. The dust arose from Daragunge in 
clouds. When the firing stopped, the troops 
11 


162 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

moved in, and we saw no more. They returned 
about ten o’clock, having reopened the communi¬ 
cation across the Ganges. 

“June 13 .—Active skirmishing was now kept 
up in the neighborhood of the fort. Colonel 
Neill requested me this morning to speak to my 
colleagues about going with their families to Cal¬ 
cutta. All ladies and non-military men are to go 
as soon as possible. I told him that my family 
were not here, and that I would like somehow to 
stay and after the restoration of order try to 
gather up the fragments of our mission. He 
gave me leave to remain, and said he would 
make arrangements for me, but requested that 
the others, with their families, prepare at once to 
remove. Troops are now on the way, and all the 
space in the fort will very soon be required. Be¬ 
sides, this is not the place for ladies, especially if 
sickness should break out.” Mr. Owen presents 
their discomforts as indescribable, scantiness of 
food and the poorness of its quality, the people 
outside, either by constraint or of their malig¬ 
nant purpose, withholding from them all sup¬ 
plies. 

“ June 14, Sabbath .—This morning I attended 
worship in the fort chapel. Mr. Spry conducted 
the services in a very appropriate manner. . . . 
The Sabbath has not been spent as any of us 


THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 163 


desired, but our confusion was unavoidable. I 
accompanied the Hays on board this evening, 
truly sorry to part from them. They have been 
very kind to me. I love and esteem them the 
more I know them, and shall feel lonely without 
them, but they, I believe, are in the way of duty 
in going. The flat on which they are is crowded 
with people; the steamer also. A number of 
armed volunteers protect both steamer and flat. 
Major Cary, an officer of the late ‘illustrious 
Sixth/ goes as military commander of the whole. 
There are not cabins for one-third of the passen¬ 
gers. Screens and curtains are fitted up all over 
the decks, and the poor people jumbled in as thick 
as they can stand. The steamer is at the water- 
gate, and leaves early to-morrow morning. 

“ June 15 .—A steamer was this morning sent 
up the Jumna with fifty or sixty fusileers and a 
twelve-pound howitzer for the purpose of harass¬ 
ing the rebels in that quarter. The fusileers 
upon landing found themselves face to face with 
thousands, but the Sikhs, who went up by land, 
soon joined them, and fought bravely. The 
Sikhs, ever since two or three of their number 
were killed by the Mohammedans, have been 
impatient to get revenge, and this morning they 
have had an opportunity. The fighting con¬ 
tinued about four hours. We heard the firing 


164 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


very distinctly, and the dark columns of smoke 
rising from the city marked the course the troops 
were taking. . . . While they were at work a bat¬ 
tery from the fort was throwing shot and shell 
upon Pryagwalitolah. Colonel Neill is much 
grieved at losing some of his brave men. 

“ I omitted mentioning an interesting occur¬ 
rence of yesterday—the arrival of thirty-seven 
fugitives from Oude under Lieutenant Grant, 
assistant commissioner. Most of them are from 
Sultanpore. About the time of the outbreak 
here they heard alarming rumors, and started for 
Purtahghur, where Lieutenant Grant was sta¬ 
tioned. There they heard that Allahabad had 
fallen, and that all the Europeans had been 
massacred. Ajeet Singh, a powerful Zamindar, 
professed to protect them several days, though in 
reality they were his prisoners. Grant managed 
to get a letter forwarded to Court, who immedi¬ 
ately sent out some native cavalry to escort them 
in. When Ajeet Singh heard that the Euro¬ 
peans at Allahabad were still safe in the fort, he 
at once became most loyal and came in with the 
party himself, bringing with him a native escort 
of two thousand men. About ten o’clock yes¬ 
terday morning they arrived. I saw them come 
in just as I was retiring to my tent, and immedi¬ 
ately went among them to render any assistance 


THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 165 


in my power. At Court’s request I took a list 
of all, and assisted in getting them refreshment. 
They came in a most forlorn state; nearly the 
whole party were sent on board the steamer at 
once without change of clothes, without anything, 
and pushed off to Calcutta. Lieutenant Grant 
remains, and shares my tent with me; indeed, I 
have made it quite over to him, and have come 
into the quarters vacated by the Hays. 

“ My fare is very simple— dail , rice and 
chupatties. The rations drawn in my name I 
make over to the poor railway-people, who are 
working hard as volunteer militiamen, and in 
reward are almost starving. I now pay for the 
little food I am able to get with my own money. 
The heat is dreadful. I fear we shall have sick¬ 
ness here in the rains. It is well that the colonel 
is pushing off the people to Calcutta as fast as 
possible, for cholera, or any other epidemic, in 
this crowded fort would make fearful work.” 

Since the 5th of June ten days had now 
elapsed since all who survived of the European 
residents of Allahabad entered that stronghold. 
Many of the non-military part of them had been 
sent, under escort, to Calcutta. Of the American 
mission all who remained, besides Mr. Owen, 
were Mr. and Mrs. Munnis and their children. 

“June 16 .—We have been most anxious re- 


166 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE . 


specting our native Christians. Only two or three 
have found their way in the fort; of the rest we 
have no definite intelligence. From the accounts 
received we apprehended the most concerning Go- 
pinath and his family, whom I left in my house 
on Saturday, the 6th inst. Judge, then, of my 
agreeable surprise this morning on receiving 
from him a short note, written from our school¬ 
building, assuring me of the safety of all his 
family, and requesting me to get a party to go 
up and bring them and Conductor Coleman and 
family and Ensign Cheek of the Sixth down to 
the fort! Gulzar, our sais, brought me the note. 
I went to Mr. Court, who had just received a sim¬ 
ilar note, and was preparing to go. I could get 
no writing-materials, and was obliged to send a 
verbal message that we were coming at once. 
Court asked me to breakfast with him and go up 
with the steamer that was to take the escort. We 
went on the steamer Jumna with sixty fusileers 
and a twelve-pounder. As we approached the 
dear old place the scene of desolation was most 
sad. The fusileers and Mr. Court landed, but 
the officer in charge would not allow any of the 
others to go ashore. Dr. Irving was with us to 
take care of the wounded, but not a shot was 
fired. The party went up to the school-building, 
but found no one there. They brought back a 


THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 167 


dismal account of the desolation which they had 
seen. 

“ When we returned to the fort, I found Go- 
pinath and his family in my quarters. Gulzar 
had mistaken my message and told them to start, 
and that I would meet them on the way. They 
therefore came alone to the fort, and entered in a 
most forlorn state, with scarcely a rag of clothing 
on. They had before sent their clothes into the 
fort, and therefore had a supply at hand. But I 
had scarcely anything for them to eat. They 
expected, on reaching the fort, to find abundant 
supplies, but actually found us almost starving. 
I immediately secured for them a passage to 
Calcutta on board the flat that leaves to-morrow 
morning in tow of the steamer Jumna, secured 
for them all the comforts I could on the passage, 
had their things taken on board and accompanied 
them on board this evening. 

“ Poor Gopinath has suffered much. For two 
or three days he and his family were wandering 
about in the greatest distress. He had been 
robbed of all the money about him, and was re¬ 
duced to the condition of a beggar. At last he 
fell into the hands of the Maulawi who had set 
up his government at the gardens. He was kept 
there in the serai with his feet in the stocks four 
days and four nights. His poor wife was dragged 


168 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

by the hair of her head on the stones and greatly 
bruised. They threatened several times to kill 
him, and, having found out that he was a Chris¬ 
tian padre, were very bitter against him, but he 
stood firm and witnessed a good confession. 
Young Ensign Cheek, who was wounded on the 
night of the outbreak and had been wandering 
about, hiding sometimes in the jungles, sometimes 
on trees, sometimes standing in the water, was suf¬ 
fering most excruciating pain while with Gopi- 
nath in the serai. Not the least of his suffering 
was from thirst, and almost night and day he was 
calling for water. In the midst of all his suffer¬ 
ings he exhorted Gopinath to stand firm, saying, 
‘ Padre sahib, hold on to your faith. Don’t give 
it up.’ When the Mohammedans saw Gopinath 
trying to show kindness to Cheek, they put him 
at a distance and tried to prevent all further in¬ 
tercourse between them. Poor Cheek died this 
evening from exposure and the long neglect of 
his wounds. 

“ Gopinath this afternoon remarked that he 
had a relative living at Bancoorah. It struck 
me that he might be a relative of Dr. Cheek, 
and I immediately went down to the hospital to 
see him and see if he had any message to his 
friends. But he was past speaking. Mr. Spry 
had seen him and prayed with him. 


THE MISSION IN THE SEPOY MUTINY. 169 


“ The heat here is so great that I cannot think 
of sleeping in the quarters before the rains set in. 
Hitherto I have slept out of doors almost every 
night since I entered the fort, and have not once 
undressed at night. Last night I slept on the 
ramparts with Hodgson’s squad of volunteers, 
over the main guard. It is the coolest place in 
the fort.” 


CHAPTER X. 


AN ATTEMPT AT RETURN TO MISSION WORK. 

XT EXT morning, June 17, Mr. Owen, after re- 
fleeting upon what was best for him to do, 
determined to walk up to the mission-school build¬ 
ing, learn how things stood and try what sort 
of a residence he could find there. Of the dan¬ 
gers to be encountered he seems to have taken 
little account, except that some native fugitives 
had come through safely. 

“ I walked up in an awfully hot sun, about 
eleven o’clock, and met with no molestation on 
the way. I might almost have fancied myself 
walking through a city of the dead. The school¬ 
building I found dreadfully broken, all the bars 
and bolts torn from the doors, the glass of the 
windows broken out, many of the doors taken 
away, hooks torn and scattered in every room 
and all about the compound, pieces of broken 
apparatus lying here and there, and everything 
as desolate as possible. But no Sepoys were to 
be seen ; all was silent and desolate, without in- 
170 




ATTEMPT AT RETURN TO MISSION WORK. 171 

habitant. From the school I went to the church, 
which I found sadly broken and completely 
robbed. Scarcely a door remains in it. All the 
furniture—chairs, seats, lamps, Bibles—has been 
carried away. The bell is in the hands of the 
Pryagwals, who have taken it for one of their 
Hindu temples.” 

Mr. Owen’s house on the Jumna he found in 
ruins, its bare walls filled with rubbish. “ I soon 
left it, quite heartsick. Several of the native 
Christians ran to me, and got others from their 
hiding-places, among whom was Yunas. I re¬ 
quested him, with his family and all the native 
Christians, to come into the school-building, and 
promised to come there and live with them. The 
poor things seemed very glad to see me, and 
still more glad of what I proposed. We went 
into a garden in front of the mission compound, 
where I found pieces of our furniture scattered 
about and Mrs. Pearson’s piano all smashed. 
They told me I would find some of our things 
in an adjoining house belonging to Abdullah (a 
Mohammedan), one of Mr. Court’s police-officers. 
I walked in, and found no one there. I picked 
up two or three of my towels—which I was glad 
to get—and a few other things. The native 
Christians also found some articles belonging to 
them. Presently we discovered a mound of fresh 


172 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


earth. I got diggers, and soon came to some 
boards; which when I had taken up, I found a 
deep cellar in which many things were stowed 
away. These were taken out, and the native 
Christians selected from them their own proper¬ 
ty ; the rest I directed to be left there. The only 
article of Abdullah’s which I took away was his 
splendid copy of the Koran, which I gave to 
Lieutenant (or, as he is called, Major) Brasyer, 
commander of the Sikhs, as a trophy. Brasyer 
has promised to give me a guard of Sikhs at the 
school-building. He and Colonel Neill and 
others were amused at my report of where I had 
been and what I had done. Several in the fort 
had been asking after me during the day, not 
knowing where I had gone.” 

The adventurous missionary had unawares 
made an important reconnoissance and discovered 
that the Sepoys were withdrawn from all parts of 
the Jumna bank which he had visited—the very 
direction which the military officers had it in 
view to explore. “I found them,” he writes, 
“ arranging for a grand expedition to-morrow. 
Harvard has asked to accompany the party. We 
are to start at gun-fire to morrow morning. 

“ June 18 .—I slept under a tree near my tent 
last night, and early this morning heard the 
preparation, and then the marching of troops. 


ATTEMPT AT RETURN TO MISSION WORK. 173 


I was soon on the steamer, and about sunrise we 
were off.” The reconnoissance proved that the 
Sepoys had entirely withdrawn. When it was 
completed and the soldiers returned to the fort, 
Mr. Owen remained with the native Christians 
among the ruins. 

“ It is pleasant to get among the native Chris¬ 
tians again, but I do not feel so comfortable as I 
expected, some of them having become half 
Mohammedans. Yunas repeated the Kalima— 
i. e., their confession of faith— 4 There is no god 
but God, and Mohammed is his Prophet/ So 
did Mrs. Fitz Gibbons and others. Not one of 
them except Gopinath has shown the spirit of a 
martyr. 

“ Brasyer has kindly sent a guard of Sikhs 
this evening, consisting of two havildars , two 
naiks and twenty men. I have gotten a supply 
of sugar to give them to put into their water for 
making sherbet. I expect to go up on the roof, 
where they are stationed, and sleep in the midst 
of them. ‘ I will lay me down in peace and 
sleep; for thou, Lord, only makest me to dwell 
in safety/ 

“ June 19 .—Bose early this morning, and be¬ 
gan to set my house in order. In the midst of 
my labors Mrs. Carr and her daughters rushed 
up from the fort in a panic, saying that the chol- 


174 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


era had there broken out and begging me to give 
them shelter. I sent the native Christians out 
into the long school-house and gave Mrs. Carr 
and her daughters rooms in the east part of the 
college-building, where they were soon joined by 
Mr. Carr. Then came Mr. Robinson asking for 
shelter, which was given. Then Edward Hamil¬ 
ton and his clerk, Mr. Knight, came running up, 
saying the cholera in the fort was fearful, and 
that people were fleeing for their lives in all di¬ 
rections. I gave them shelter also. 

“ During the day I have picked up a few books 
in quite a ruined state. Yesterday, while march¬ 
ing with the troops through Durgabad, I saw stray 
leaves here and there of my Poole’s Synopsis , 
Howe’s Works, Warburton, and other standard 
authors, that had been torn and scattered to the 
four winds by those Durgabad scoundrels. 

“ I slept soundly last night on the top of the 
house quite alone among the Sikhs. Badhi, the 
punhahivdla, sat near me. My little pussy that 
used to sit so comfortable under the punkah on 
my study-table in the bungalow had been a wan¬ 
derer ever since the outbreak. Last night she 
came calling for me, and as soon as she found me 
out ran up purring with the greatest satisfaction, 
followed me to the house-top, and there spent the 
night with me. 


ATTEMPT AT RETURN TO MISSION WORK. 175 

“ The cholera was raging at a fearful rate at 
the fort to-day.” 

Upon going into the fort the first duty which 
was demanded of Mr. Owen was to conduct the fu¬ 
neral of a victim of that terrible plague, the wife 
of an officer, while others were lying at the point 
of death. On the way to the burial-ground they 
overtook Mr. Spry, the Church-of-England chap¬ 
lain, outside the main gate, accompanying the cof¬ 
fin of another lady who had just died of cholera, 
borne by European soldiers. They took that cof¬ 
fin also on the carriage. “ Mr. Spry read the bur¬ 
ial-service for both at once. He then returned to 
the trenches and read the service over the bodies 
of eighteen soldiers who had all died of cholera 
during the day. They were buried, without cof¬ 
fins, by twos and threes, in narrow graves just 
wide enough to admit them. Their poor com¬ 
rades who were killed in action the other day in 
Durgabad were never buried. A party went out 
to recover the bodies, but found they had been 
cut to pieces by the Mohammedans and treated 
with every manner of indignity.” 

When Mr. Owen returned from the burial to 
the quarters, he found more deaths, running up 
the number by cholera to twenty-one on that day. 
He returned to his ruined school-house in the 
evening. “ I had to walk up quite alone and in 


176 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

tlie dark, and could scarcely stand when I reached 
this place, which I found filled to overflowing. 
The Sikh guards are on the top, and I take my 
station with them for the night. He that keep- 
eth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps, and unless 
he keep us the watchmen watch in vain. 

“June 20 .—Had a good refreshing sleep last 
night, and feel well again to-day. The heat is 
intense, and we have—at least, I have—neither 
tatties nor punkahs , and the glass windows are 
out and the dust flying into my room in clouds. 
I saw, and had a very pleasant talk with, Mr. and 
Mrs. Spry in the fort to-day. In these times it is 
truly refreshing to find those who take an interest 
in things of Zion. I miss the Hays very much 
in this respect. Allahabad never appeared more 
godless than it does now. While in the fort I 
could scarcely walk about without hearing pro¬ 
fane language from various directions. I never 
saw the European character in a more unfavor¬ 
able aspect. 

“June 21 , Sabbath .—We had service to-day in 
English, which I conducted. Afterward I col¬ 
lected the native Christians, and had service with 
them in Hindustanee.. It was pleasant to see 
them assembled for worship once more, although 
I fear several of them, to save their lives, have 
professed the Mohammedan belief. This is very 


ATTEMPT AT RETURN TO MISSION WORK. 177 


melancholy, and casts a bitter alloy into the pleas¬ 
ure of meeting them again. The native reports 
which have reached us from Futtehghur are of 
the most discouraging character. We have pain¬ 
ful fears regarding the safety of our dear friends 
there. No Cawnpore dak for more than two 
weeks past. The Futtehpore station has been 
destroyed, and Mr. Robert Tucker killed. All 
the other residents have fled, and are supposed 
to be safe. 

“June 22 .—Walked this morning to the press. 
The scene of desolation on the way is beyond all 
desertion. The native hospital and blind and 
leper asylums have been burned. The bones of 
the poor officers who fell on the parade-ground 
have been gathered up and burned. The des¬ 
olation at the press is dismal. All the bound 
books in the depository and all the unbound 
sheets in the binding-room and the store-rooms 
adjoining—in value not to be counted in rupees 
—have been consumed. My commentary on 
the Psalms, printed as far as the sixtieth psalm, 
has been burnt. I have a copy of the printed 
sheets which I happened to take with me into the 
fort. Much of my manuscript which was in the 
press has also been destroyed, and of this I have 
no second copy. Its reproduction will cost me 
much toil. The manuscript of the Psalms, 
12 


178 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

which I left in our bungalow, has also been de¬ 
stroyed beyond recovery. 

“ June 27 .—During the past week I have been 
attending to the comfort and security of the 
native Christians. Joel has just come from 
Bareilly, from which place he and Emma, with a 
child in arms, walked the whole way. The out¬ 
break there occurred on the 30th of May. Dr. 
Hay, Mr. Robertson, the judge and Dr. Hans- 
brow have been killed, also Mr. Poynder, the 
chaplain, and his wife, and many others. The 
Butlers are safe at Nynee Tal, but all their prop¬ 
erty has been plundered and their houses burned. 
AH Rohilcund seems to have fallen. Bareilly 
appears to have been attacked by the mutinous 
regiment (Eighteenth) on Sabbath, the 30th of 
May, just as the people were leaving church. 
The people at Shahjehanpore are said to have 
been attacked in church, and most of them then 
and there killed. Joel came through Shahjehan¬ 
pore, and saw it a scene of perfect desolation, no 
Europeans there. He also came through Luck¬ 
now and Cawnpore, where Sir Henry Lawrence 
and Sir Hugh Wheeler were holding out in their 
respective intrenchments against the rebels. Sir 
Henry Lawrence seems safe at Lucknow, but 
great apprehensions are entertained for the safety 
of Sir Hugh Wheeler’s force at Cawnpore, closely 


ATTEMPT AT RETURN TO MISSION WORK. 179 

hemmed in as they are by overwhelming odds 
and with limited ammunition and supplies. 

“Babu Hari walked to Lucknow, then to 
Cawnpore, and so back to Allahabad. I sent 
him, on his arrival, to Colonel Neill, to give an 
account of what he had seen. We have no up- 
country dak in these days, and have great diffi¬ 
culty in getting any authentic intelligence. A 
very bad report has reached us from Cawnpore, 
which the babu confirms. Several days since, it 
is said, some forty boats, with one hundred and 
thirty-two Europeans from Futtehghur, were 
passing Cawnpore on their way to Allahabad. 
When they reached Bithoor, eight miles above 
Cawnpore, the Nana Sahib, a Mahratta who for 
several years resided at Bithoor, fired upon them 
and brought them all into Cawnpore, where he 
had them taken upon the parade-ground and 
slain. The party is said to have comprised all 
the non-military people of Futtehghur; and if 
so, our missionary friends must have been among 
them. A few days before the outbreak here I 
received a letter from Freeman informing me 
that all the missionaries in Delhi had been mur¬ 
dered. He wrote in a desponding style. Poor 
fellow! I still hope that he and the rest may 
be all right, for there is a counter flying report 
that the Tenth regiment, at Futtehghur, have not 


180 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


mutinied, and that that station is still safe. The 
missionary brethren there have for some time 
back been on the lookout, and have had native 
dresses for themselves and their families all ready 
to attempt their escape. They were all living in 
one compound and had prayer-meetings daily. 

“ June 28 .—The quiet rest of the Sabbath has 
been very refreshing. I have not been able to 
get the European portion of the population to¬ 
gether, but have had service quietly with the 
native Christians. 

“ June 30 .—This afternoon four hundred or 
five hundred Europeans and seven hundred to 
eight hundred Sikhs started for Cawnpore amidst 
great cheering. The force is commanded by 
Major Renaud of the First Madras fusileers. 

“July 7 .—Another force, under General 
Havelock, went off this afternoon.’ , Immedi¬ 
ately on the breaking out of the mutiny the 
forces were recalled from Persia, the war there 
being ended. Colonel Havelock, with two regi¬ 
ments, the Seventy-eighth and Sixty-fourth, was 
delayed on the voyage by shipwreck, but reached 
Calcutta on the 17th of June. He was at once 
raised to the rank of brigadier-general and ap¬ 
pointed to command the troops sent to relieve 
Sir Hugh Wheeler at Cawnpore and Sir Henry 
Lawrence at Lucknow. He arrived at Allahabad 


ATTEMPT AT RETURN TO MISSION WORK. 181 

June 30. “We fear,” writes Mr. Owen, “they 
are now too late to relieve Cawnpore. The force 
there is reported to have been all cut up, and 
several European ladies to be yet alive in the 
hands of the rebels.” 

“July 14 .—General Havelock’s force pushed 
on and joined the advance column, and last 
Sunday, at Futtehpore, were attacked by the 
rebels, whom they defeated. There were three 
regiments of infantry and two of cavalry on the 
side of the enemy. 

“July 16. —Yesterday, Havelock again fought 
the rebels at Pandoo Nuddy, about fifteen miles 
this side of Cawnpore. General Neill has pushed 
on to join him with a few more troops. 

“July 18 .—Day before yesterday Havelock 
entered Cawnpore after hard fighting about four 
miles this side of that place. The women who 
had been in the hands of the rebels were all 
murdered a few hours before the British forces 
entered. In one house the troops found a pool 
of fresh blood, with arms, legs and heads, and 
traced the blood to a well near by, from which 
were taken the bodies of twenty-five women to 
whom they had belonged, all recently murdered. 
In the same house was found the journal of a 
lady kept until the day she was slain. Ed- 
monstone, formerly of Futtehpore and recently 


182 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


officiating as judge at Banda, has just arrived 
here. The fugitives from Futtehpore went to 
Banda, where they were joined by most of the 
residents of that station, and thence went to Na- 
gode, farther south, thence to Mirzapore, whence 
the ladies, Mrs. Edmonstone and Mrs. Webster, 
went to Calcutta, and the gentlemen came here. 
At Humeerpore, Mr. Lloyd and Mr. Donald 
Grant were blown from a gun. Bruce and Ben¬ 
jamin, at Banda, have been killed by the Mo¬ 
hammedans. At Jhansi all the Europeans have 
been killed. Our prospects are now darker than 
ever. Sir Henry Lawrence, at Lucknow, was 
wounded on the 2d, and died on the 4th inst.— 
a sad loss to India at this time. 

“ July 19 .—Baptized old Maulawi Mohammed 
Taki, who was examined last Monday by the 
Session. At the same time Yunas appeared and 
confessed his having repeated the Kalima to save 
his wife, sister-in-law and mother-in-law from 
being dishonored, and to-day he asked forgive¬ 
ness of the church. 

“August 10 .—Havelock started to go on to 
Lucknow, but has been obliged to fall back to 
Cawnpore. All Oude is in arms. Lucknow still 
holds out, but is in great danger. Should that 
place fall, the rebels may make a rush at Allah¬ 
abad, and we may be besieged in the fort again. 


ATTEMPT AT RETURN TO MISSION WORK 183 


Great preparations are going forward in the fort 
to be ready for such an event. Delhi is still in 
the hands of the rebels, and the British troops 
have been there trying to retake it ever since the 
8th of June. The station and cantonments of 
Agra are in the hands of the insurgents, but the 
Europeans are all safe in the fort. In all the 
North-western Provinces there is no such thing 
as order and government except in the few 
garrisons over which the British flag is still 
waving. 

“August 18. —No dak from Calcutta for sev¬ 
eral days past. The native troops at Dinapore 
have mutinied, and are now scattered over the 
province of Behar and stopping the mail-carts. 
Prospects are still very dark. In the fort prep¬ 
arations are made for blowing up the whole 
place in case it should be necessary to evacuate 
Allahabad. The Munnises have just left by 
steamer for Calcutta. 

“August 19. —I am here alone with Mr. Sandys. 
We have better news from Agra and Delhi. If 
Lucknow could be relieved, we might hope to see 
things soon beginning to mend. Calcutta dak 
and telegraph still closed. The Cawnpore dak 
and wire have also been closed again. 

“August 23. —Yesterday a rumor reached us 
that Lucknow had fallen, and that the Cawnpore 


184 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

tragedy had been there re-enacted; also that 
Lohunda was in the hands of the rebels, who 
were tearing up the railway. To-day I received 
a letter from Scott, dated July 25—the first 
letter from any of our brethren up the country 
since May 14. He has heard of the murder of 
our dear Futtehghur brethren and sisters. The 
station of Agra has been burned and destroyed. 

“August 24, Allahabad Fort .—On Saturday I 
was warned not to remain at the Jumna alone. 
The Muharam has just commenced, and the 
Mohammedans have vowed destruction to all the 
£ infidels ’ they can lay hold of. Walter Freeling 
kindly sent me up a note from the fort that Lieu¬ 
tenant Jenkins would gladly allow me to come 
into his quarters. I came down, and received a 
kind welcome. I slept here on Saturday night, 
and went up to the Jumna yesterday and spent 
a quiet Sabbath with the native Christians. I 
returned last night; have now become the guest 
of the mess to which Freeling, Jenkins, Chris¬ 
topher and other pleasant gentlemen belong, and 
receive from them all great kindness; am making 
arrangements to have the native Christians 
brought within the outer entrenchments.” 

At this point Mr. Owen’s journal-letters come 
to an end. Having gone to Calcutta to meet his 
wife on her return from America, he was there 


ATTEMPT AT RETURN TO MISSION WORK. 185 


detained for four months by the unsettled state 
of the country. Allahabad had become the base 
of military operations for the northern provinces. 
Mission work was entirely swept from the field 
of all that group of stations comprehended under 
the name of Furruckabad. The laborious and 
prayerful work of twenty years seemed to have 
been expended in vain—all its fruits utterly ex¬ 
tinguished. 


CHAPTER XI. 


RETURNING TO WORK.—FROM CALCUTTA TO FUR- 
RUCK AB AD IN THE TRAIL OF THE MUTINY, AND 
THROUGH LORD CLYDE'S ARMY. 

/^\N the 15th of September, Mr. Owen reached 
^ Calcutta, where his wife landed on the 21st; 
he did not leave that city on his return to the 
north until January following. Meanwhile occur¬ 
red Havelock’s final march on Lucknow and re¬ 
inforcement of the European garrison there, Lord 
Clyde’s victories at Cawnpore and Alumbagh and 
relief of the residency of Lucknow, the recapture 
of Delhi by General Wilson and protection of 
Agra by Colonel Greathed. But Lucknow, al¬ 
though humiliated and her prey wrested out of 
her grasp, was still at the beginning of 1858 un¬ 
subdued, and the mutineers, who now made that 
city their headquarters, remained a numerous, 
well-organized and well-equipped army. Oude 
and the adjoining country across the Ganges 
were still occupied by conflicting forces. Mis¬ 
sionary operations were still impracticable in the 
region of Allahabad. 


186 


RETURNING TO WORK. 


187 


Mr. Owen, at Calcutta, remained impatiently 
listening to every report of the movements which 
seemed to be opening the way for return to his 
work. On the 24th of November he writes, 
“We spent Saturday with Dr. and Mrs. Duff, 
and went with him again over his noble institu¬ 
tion. Last night we were in company of upward 
of thirty Christian friends, where we saw all the 
Lacroix party. We see them frequently, and 
have much delightful intercourse with them. . . . 
I have much to be thankful for—life spared, wife 
and son spared, the sympathy and affection of 
dear friends, a hope in the blessed Redeemer.” 

On the 19th of January, 1858, Mr. Owen 
left Calcutta alone for the field of his mission. 
The journey was one of exploration among ruins 
to find out where to recommence and what re¬ 
mained that could be useful. From Calcutta the 
railway then extended as far north as Ranee- 
gunge. At that station he was detained most 
of two days, all the garis (carriages) being en¬ 
gaged for the transportation of troops. Part of 
that time he spent in visiting the camp and hos¬ 
pital, in talking with the men on the interest of 
their souls and reading the Scripture to them. 
In the hospital, “ when I suggested having 
worship with them, they immediately got me a 
desk and a Bible, and were all very attentive, 


188 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

some of them following me in their Bibles while 
I read.” 

On leaving Baneegunge he went in company 
with certain military officers on their way to 
Lucknow. “A gentleman accustomed to the 
use of firearms kindly loaded my revolver for 
me and put the caps on. I heard the driver 
giving notice during the night to some natives 
that I was armed. Our carriages continued near 
each other all night. We passed two or three 
detachments of troops by the way, and hundreds 
of carts laden with supplies. My carriage was 
a comfortable one, but the night was very cold. 
This morning a cold north wind was blowing 
down from the hills. I wrapped myself up in 
my cloak, and enjoyed it greatly. The scenery 
in all directions is beautiful, and the mountain- 
air bracing.” 

It was through a constant stream of military 
coming and going that Mr. Owen had to make 
his way. Upon his arrival at the station of 
Nimeaghant, the officer in command there, whose 
duty it was to receive troops on their way, feed 
them, and pass them on, had just received orders 
to have rations for two hundred men a day for 
several days to come, which seemed to confirm 
the rumors of hard fighting up the country. 
“They say all is safe as far as Sasseram, and 


RETURNING TO WORK. 


189 


if there is any danger beyond, the officer com¬ 
manding there will not allow us to go on until 
the road is quite clear. If all goes well, we 
shall reach Sasseram the day after to-morrow.” 
At various places he found the road blocked up 
with bullock-carts conveying troops to the north 
—not a promising symptom for the conditions of 
missionary work. 

Next day he met a rumor that Amar Singh 
was in force at Boletas Gurli, and that the Brit¬ 
ish troops were to attack him from Sasseram in 
a few days. “ The people are quietly pursuing 
their occupations.” 

On arrival at Sasseram he found the report 
correct as to the intended attack upon Boletas 
Gurli, but, as that was not to be made for a few 
days and no impediment was put in his way, he 
determined to push forward. At Sasseram he 
spent the Sabbath, and had religious services 
with some of the soldiers. He mentions with 
affection some officers in whose company he had 
traveled so far, and with whom he had worship 
on Sabbath evening. “After we rose (from 
kneeling in prayer) they all thanked me. Poor, 
dear fellows! they appear very friendly. They all 
seem to have been well brought up in the Church 
of England.” 

At Sasseram, Mr. Owen parted from his mili- 


190 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


tary companions, who had to wait there for their 
men to come up. At Benares he found some of 
his old missionary friends, but their kindness 
failed to induce him to stay more than part of 
three days with them. Through crowds of lca- 
ranchies laden with European soldiers, and ac¬ 
cepting conveyance with a military friend, Captain 
Bunbury, in a government van, he pushed on his 
way, and reached Allahabad the next morning. 
Along the road between Benares and Allahabad 
he remarks that he had never seen the country in a 
better state of cultivation. “ The poor cultiva¬ 
tors seem to have taken little interest in the 
rebellion, either against or for us. ... I saw 
the outlines of the old fort by moonlight. Many 
hearts feel grateful for the protection it afforded 
last June. The esplanade in front is covered with 
tents. As we came up the road leading from the 
fort to the station I saw the plain on our left cov¬ 
ered with a sea of canvas, the encampment of 
the queen’s Second dragoon guards. The part 
near the station is covered with a park of artil¬ 
lery, and in the part where the Sepoy lines were 
European barracks are in course of rapid prep¬ 
aration. 

“We entered the mission-press compound 
shortly before one o’clock this morning. . . . 
Babu John Hari and Mirza, and other native 


RETURNING TO WORK. 


191 


Christians, were soon up, and came to assist in 
taking my things off the van. I was cold, and 
felt too much excited to sleep. I was early up, 
and walked with Kennedy to the fort to find Dr. 
Guise.” His tent was on the esplanade. “ One 
of his servants took us to the scene of his 
laborious duties. ... We had then a long walk 
through the hospitals, in which are four hundred 
and thirty sick and wounded. It would be im¬ 
possible to speak too highly in praise of the per¬ 
fect neatness and cleanliness in which we saw the 
poor fellows in their comfortable wards and beds. 
Everything is done for them that human skill 
and kindness can do. . . . Colonel Greathed, 
the hero of Delhi and Agra, is now here, on his 
way to Calcutta—a very soldierly-looking man.” 

Entertained by Mr. Court, the magistrate, as 
his guest at the mess for the few days which in¬ 
tervened before he could proceed to Futteghur, 
where he expected to meet some brethren from 
the northern stations, Mr. Owen was in the way 
of hearing from both civilians and military men 
the news of what was going on in both depart¬ 
ments of the public service, and, being deeply 
interested in having the native Christians rec¬ 
ognized as worthy of government confidence, 
consistently defended their cause in that com¬ 
pany. He collected many examples of their 


192 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

loyalty, self-reliance and enterprise, when trust¬ 
ed as soldiers or otherwise. Some of them, to 
save their lives and those of their families, had 
submitted to repeat the Mohammedan creed and 
now came to him lamenting their lapse and beg¬ 
ging to be taken back into the church. Many 
of them through all their trials had clung to the 
ruins of the mission premises and that neighbor¬ 
hood. Babu John Hari had mended one of the 
broken presses, and commenced printing jobs. 
For that purpose he had obtained a government 
license. 

Allahabad was at that time in the midst of a 
revolution going to make it for a time the seat 
of the general government and the centre of 
military operations. Changes were taking place 
in every direction, and, everything unsettled, 
mission work was still impracticable. Hindu 
melas were also suspended. “ The Pryagwals 
have nearly all left Pryagwalitolah. Several 
of them live in Daragunge, and, as the people 
are prohibited from going to the tribeni in large 
companies, the Pryagwals go down themselves, 
one or two at a time, and bring a lotah of water 
from the sacred point of the junction, mix it 
with other Ganges water in Daragunge, and 
there bathe the few people from the city who 
persist in patronizing them. 


RETURNING TO WORK. 


193 


“The ungodly lives of Europeans have been 
no inconsiderable hindrance to the progress of 
the gospel in India. . . . Chester was highly 
indignant at a man called De Cruz for turning 
Mussulman. De Cruz was asked if he had be¬ 
come a Mussulman. He very coolly replied, 
‘ Yes, as a temporary measure.’ Chester was for 
hanging him.” 

“ Feb . 2 .—I have received a letter from Scott 
at Landour, where he was writing from the midst 
of a snow-storm. He intended going down to 
Agra in a week or two, and wishes me to try 
and come there. Fullerton is at Futtehghur, and 
I have written to him to stand fast there until 
I come. I hope to start in a day or two. To 
get as far as Cawnpore is easy enough by gov¬ 
ernment dak , but beyond there is no dak but 
the mail-cart, and that passes twenty miles from 
Futtehghur. However, I hope to get on some¬ 
how. 

“j Feb. 6, Camp Futtehpore —On Saturday 
morning I got an order from the brigadier for 
a government dak at my own expense. He gave 
me, also, a pass for the train to Khaga, and my 
passage to that place cost me nothing. The train 
was a very long one, bringing us commissariat 
stores and munitions of war.” The command¬ 
er-in-chief he expected to meet him by the way, 

13 


194 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


but at Khaga heard that he was at Cawnpore, 
crossing his troops into Oude. 

“While the engineer was taking in water I 
conversed with some of the Sepoys who muti¬ 
nied at Nowgong. About eighty of them re¬ 
mained staunch and protected their major. The 
government have committed to their charge the 
railway-works at Bawari. I asked them why 
their comrades mutinied. They professed entire 
ignorance of the cause, simply saying, ‘ God made 
them bad/ I asked them whether they would 
shoot any of their old comrades if they should 
meet them. ‘Yes, certainly/ said they; ‘for 
if we did not, they would shoot us.’ 

“ The country through which we passed is 
under cultivation, and the crops seem as usual. 

“ From Khaga, I came on to Futtehpore, twen¬ 
ty-two miles, by government van, paying for 
myself. The dale bungalows between Allahabad 
and Futtehpore were all burned during the re¬ 
bellion, except the one at Lohunda the telegraph- 
wires all destroyed, and nearly all the telegraph- 
posts. The wire is now supported by temporary 
posts of bamboo and whatever else material came 
first to hand. At Belinda, four miles from Fut¬ 
tehpore, where Havelock was first attacked, and 
whence he proceeded and fought the battle of 
Futtehpore, Sunday morning, July 12, the first 



RETURNING TO WORK. 


195 


advantage gained by us after the dreadful events 
of June, we stopped to change horses. I asked 
the people of the village about it. They saw it, 
and said they were all loyal, and furnished our 
troops with supplies. 

“ I drove to the camp, not knowing where I 
was to find shelter, but inquiring for Mr. Marcy’s 
tent. The driver brought me into the cutchery 
compound in the military camp, and I was met 
immediately by a pleasant gentleman on horse¬ 
back, Major Babington of the Seventeenth Mad¬ 
ras native infantry, with a kind ‘How do you do, 
sir? Are you going up the country? You’ll 
stop and give us service to-morrow ? But un¬ 
fortunately we are going out on a tour, to be 
gone several days. But there’s my tent; occupy 
it as long as you like. We dine at six this even¬ 
ing, and shall be happy to have you with us. 
Take your things to my tent, and I’ll be back 
in a few minutes.’ I deposited my things in my 
new home, and drove off on the van to look at 
the mission premises.” It was in Gopinath’s 
congregation. The property had been seriously 
injured and some of the houses burned, but a 
portion were still inhabited by native Christians, 
and Mr. Owen thought that, as “ the walls were 
standing, if covered over before the next rains they 
would with some repairing be as good as ever.” 


196 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

Mr. Owen then visited the civil camp, and, 
meeting some acquaintances there, dismissed his 
van and in their company took a walk among 
the ruins in other parts of the city, describing 
the desolation which the mutiny and its punish¬ 
ment had left behind them. Dining with Major 
Babington that evening, he was introduced to 
the principal officers of the station, by whom he 
was treated with the kindest courtesy. Next day 
he preached in the camp. The conclusion of his 
observations was that Futtehpore was quite safe, 
and that if Gopinath were there he might re¬ 
commence missionary operations on a small scale. 
His next letter was from 

“ Cawnpore , Feb. 9 .—Here I am, in the station 
which of all that have suffered by the rebellion 
has been the scene of most suffering, cruelty and 
slaughter. I left the major’s tent at half-past 
eight. I passed the mission premises, and left 
money and an order with Henry to have the 
four catechists’ houses repaired immediately; the 
natives should see as soon as possible that we 
have not been driven from the ground. I think 
Futtehpore will now remain safe. The only fear, 
so far as I can see, is that the rebels, when driven 
from Lucknow and Oude, may make a dash that 
way. But the authorities must protect the rail¬ 
way and other property there, and not allow the 


RETURNING TO WORK. 


197 


enemy again to take possession. The command- 
er-in-chief went over to Allahabad on Sunday 
morning, and passed through Futtehpore on his 
return to Cawnpore early this morning, having 
left Allahabad on Monday night. The horses 
had been well used up, and consequently I came 
on slowly, and reached Cawnpore just before sun¬ 
set. The road is well kept, open and quite safe. 
I came comfortably in one of the government 
vans. The country is under cultivation, and the 
crops appear as usual; but the road to-day bore 
more evident marks of the rebellion than any 
part I have seen, except at the stations of Allah¬ 
abad and Futtehpore. Most of the villages had 
been plundered and burnt, and the people are 
just beginning to settle in them again. The tel¬ 
egraph-posts had nearly all been cut, and tempo¬ 
rary posts have been put up. The bare walls of 
the two dak bungalows at Kullianpoor and Sir- 
soul are standing. Kullianpoor, the second dak 
bungalow from Cawnpore, is the place to which 
the revolted regiments had gone on their way to 
Allahabad when the Nana went out and brought 
them back to Cawnpore. At Aung I saw the 
entrenchment, or part of it, from behind which 
the rebels attempted to oppose Havelock’s prog¬ 
ress after the battle of Futtehpore. They were 
driven from their position, and fell back three 


198 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


miles to the Pandoo Nuddi. There they began 
to break down the Pakha bridge, but had not time 
to do much before Havelock was again upon 
them. They had another entrenchment on this 
side of the bridge, a portion of which is still 
there. After two hours’ fighting the rebels re¬ 
treated toward Cawnpore, and made a stand on 
the 15th of July at the place where the road into 
cantonment forks from the trunk-road. After 
Havelock had defeated them at this last place the 
Nana came into Cawnpore and caused every 
European here—about one hundred and fifty— 
to be butchered that night. Havelock came in 
the next morning, and found the slaughter-house 
and the well. The scene, as we approached and 
entered the station, was sad—sad beyond descrip¬ 
tion. The ruin is more extensive and complete 
and the desolation much more visible and strik¬ 
ing than in Allahabad. The memory of what 
we saw can never be forgotten. 

“ I am in Nir Muhammed’s hotel—rather a 
rough affair, but a great convenience just now. 
One is glad to get any shelter in such a time as 
this. The commander-in-chiei’s camp is here, and 
the troops are crossing on two or three bridges 
day and night. The whole place is full of bustle 
and dust, and is swarming with redcoats. In the 
compound of the hotel are encamped the ladies 


RETURNING TO WORK. 


199 


who have just come down with a convoy from 
Agra. 

“ One’s heart sickens in going over this vast 
scene of desolation and ruin with the recollec¬ 
tion of what Cawnpore was only a few months 
since, and that all the recent occupants of these 
walls are now in eternity, where God grant the 
mercy men denied ! Cawnpore is like a city of 
the dead; I can scarcely recognize places with 
which I was once acquainted. After surveying 
the new fort we drove to the chiefs camp and 
called on Major Norman, the son of my old 
friend and fellow-passenger round the Cape. I 
expect to leave early on Friday morning by gov¬ 
ernment van for Agra. I have just received a 
letter from Fullerton, who has returned to that 
city; also one from Butler, from Meerut. 

“ This evening I drove out to find some of the 
places which have obtained such a sad notoriety. 
No native that I met would tell me the way to the 
house of murder; they all feign entire ignorance 
of its locality, and of what occurred there. At 
last I got a drummer-boy of the Thirty-fourth 
to come with me and show me the way. He is 
a bright little fellow, and told me of their recent 
hard fighting with the Gwalior rebels, and point¬ 
ed out the places where some of the severest strug¬ 
gles took place. The slaughter-house has been 


200 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


blown up, and the well in which the bodies were 
thrown has been filled. A very beautiful monu¬ 
ment ‘To the Memory of the Women and Chil¬ 
dren of H. M. Thirty-second who were Massa¬ 
cred near this Place ’ has been erected by twenty 
men of that regiment who passed through Cawn- 
pore in November. The well into which Miss 
Wheeler threw herself, a few feet distant, has 
also been covered over. The trees against which 
the Sepoys dashed the children have been cut 
down ; they were just back of the house, between 
that and the well. The bark, which was stained 
with the children’s blood, has been taken off, but 
the trees are lying there still. 

“ The slaughter-house is in ruins, and one can¬ 
not see what it was, but the entrenchment—if 
such it may be called—is just as it was when 
Wheeler capitulated. There is no entrenchment, 
only a mud bank scarcely as high as one’s knee 
a few rods in front of the buildings they occu¬ 
pied ; in some places no bank at all. It is per¬ 
fectly astonishing that they were held so long 
by so weak a force against such overwhelming 
odds, and proves more than anything I have yet 
seen the rebels’ want of skill and courage. In 
the defence were only one hundred and fifty of 
the queen’s Thirty-second, fifteen of the Madras 
fusileers and a few other fighting-men, and six 


RETURNING TO WORK. 


201 


small guns. The place is very extensive, and 
even if really well entrenched would require at 
least five hundred men to defend the works. It 
was surrounded by at least twenty thousand of the 
Nana’s forces, who had not less than fifty or sixty 
guns battering it day and night from every direc¬ 
tion. I never saw buildings so thoroughly bat¬ 
tered and riddled. No wonder the poor people 
lost all heart, balls constantly coming in upon 
them, bricks falling and walls tumbling about 
their ears, no quiet day or night, many being 
killed daily, others dying of wounds and sun¬ 
stroke. This is the most dismal of all the dis¬ 
mal scenes of desolation that I have yet seen 
caused by this rebellion. It makes one’s heart 
sick to walk about and think of the grief and 
suffering these battered and riddled walls have 
witnessed. Some who died are buried in a small 
garden; most, however, were thrown into a well 
near one of the buildings. On some of the walls 
are still spots of blood. The place is yet 
marked where young Wheeler, the general’s son 
and aide-de-camp, was killed by a round-shot, 
his blood being splattered all over the wall.* How 
our people managed to hold out those twenty days 
is matter of astonishment. Equally astonishing is 

* Another account is that young Wheeler was fatally wounded in 
a sally on the 20th, and died next day. 


202 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE . 

the fatuity evinced in entrenching there. They 
were exposed on every side, without any cover 
from the enemy’s cannon and musketry, and in 
every direction the walls are battered and broken 
in, and heaps of brick lying all about. 

“ Lieutenant Thompson, one of the only three 
survivors of Cawnpore, whom I met this evening, 
says the place is just as they left it. Thompson 
is a particularly pleasant man, and gives a most 
interesting account of what he has seen and suf¬ 
fered. He was wounded the other day at Calpee, 
and can scarcely walk. He and Delafosse and 
Private Murphy are the only survivors of all 
who went into the entrenchments here on the 
6th of last June. Government ought to pen¬ 
sion and promote them instead of exposing them 
to further danger. Murphy is fighting at Luck¬ 
now, and Thompson will be at it again as soon 
as his wound heals. Delafosse, they say, is half 
mad. 

“ Wheeler capitulated with the Nana on the 
26th of June, and the ladies began to move to 
the boats about six o’clock on the morning of 
the 27th, and by eight a. m. all were on board. 
They were not without suspicions of foul play, 
but had no idea that it could be so bad. I have 
heard from native reports that when the ladies 
came out of the entrenchments to go on board 


RETURNING TO WORK. 


203 


they could scarcely be distinguished from native 
women, they were so sunburnt and covered with 
dust and smoke. Willock told me this evening 
that our European soldiers, when going into ac¬ 
tion, to urge each other on often call out ‘ Cawn- 
pore! CawnporeP and the Sikhs cry ‘ Cawnpore 
ha badki! Cawnpore ha badlaP—‘Bevenge of 
Cawnpore P 

“Feb. 11 .—Breakfasted this morning with 
Gregson, and afterward drove with him over the 
ground of the late disaster under Wyndham ; also 
to the church and graveyard. The roof of the 
church was burnt, and fell in; but an awning of 
sirlca grass has been run over it—a shelter from 
the sun, but not for rain—rude seats placed in¬ 
side, something like a pulpit set up, and service is 
conducted there on Sundays. The walls are all 
blackened with smoke. They seem good, and 
the tower is still standing. The place is sadly 
dilapidated. The monuments in the burial- 
ground are much broken. ... On returning, I 
found here Debi Din, one of the native Chris¬ 
tians who came with the missionaries from Fut- 
tehghur, and was with them until they were 
seized at Nawabgunge. His account is most 
touching. I have determined to remain here a 
day or two longer and take down his statement 
before going on to Agra. His account agrees, 


204 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


for the most part, with what I have heard, but 
adds further particulars. 

“A large number (one hundred and thirty-two) 
of Europeans left Futtehghur on the 4th of June 
in boats to make their escape down the river, 
either to Cawnpore or Allahabad. Our mission¬ 
ary friends Freeman and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. 
Johnson, Campbell, his wife and two children, 
and Mr. and Mrs. M’Mullin, were with others 
on one of the boats. They proceeded with very 
great difficulty, in some places giving the natives 
money to be allowed to proceed, and in others 
fighting their way through crowds of rebels. 

“ They were not taken at Bithoor, as we had 
heard, but five miles farther down and five miles 
above Cawnpore, at Nawabgunge. There they 
saw with spyglasses guns placed on the banks 
to oppose their progress down the river, and 
wrote a letter to General Wheeler asking for 
assistance to get up to his entrenchments, and 
offered a man—who afterward proved to be a 
spy of the Nana’s—two hundred rupees to take 
the letter up to Wheeler. They heard the 
booming of cannon, and knew that all Cawn¬ 
pore was up, and that the Europeans were some¬ 
where in one place defending themselves. There 
they remained, near a small island in the river, 
about two days, unable to get on down the river 


RETURNING TO WORK. 


205 


and unable to get assistance from the English. 
At last, hundreds of people, Budmashes, Se¬ 
poys, Sowars, cultivators from the villages, men, 
women and children, surrounded them. They 
fought as long as they could, the ladies loading 
and the gentlemen firing the muskets. A round- 
shot broke a hole in the large boat, on which 
they had all been obliged to get. The boat be¬ 
gan to sink, and all got out on the small island, 
the ladies holding their children in their arms, 
under the scorching sun of June, the hot winds 
blowing in full blast. All knelt down, and Mr. 
Campbell led them in prayer. Then they directed 
the servants on the boat to break all the weapons 
and throw them into the river. They were soon 
beset with multitudes, who took their watches, 
all they had in their pockets, their hats, shoes, 
stockings, coats—everything except a slight cov¬ 
ering from the waist downward. Then all were 
put into a large boat and brought to the Cawn- 
pore side. Mr. Campbell requested the three 
native Christians who were with them to escape 
and get back to Futtehghur and warn all there 
to flee and try to save themselves. 

“ Debi Din saw the whole party brought to 
the shore, the ladies brought off first and made 
to sit on the ground; then the gentlemen were 
brought off and tied with a long rope arm to 


206 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

arm. The Sowars rode near the ladies while 
thus sitting on the ground. The ladies joined 
their hands and in an attitude of entreaty begged 
for their lives. The Sowars replied to them in 
abusive and obscene language, shook their swords 
over them and told them not one of them should 
live. When the gentlemen had all been tied to¬ 
gether in a ring, the ladies were placed within 
the ring, and thus they were all marched off. 
Mr. Campbell gave a farewell mlam to the native 
Christians, and the latter gazed after the com¬ 
pany till a bazar through which they were taken 
covered them from view. 

“A native here says that he saw a number of 
European ladies and gentlemen, with their chil¬ 
dren, being killed by Sepoys and Sowars one 
morning about ten o’clock on the plain in front 
of the Savadah Kothi, the house formerly occu¬ 
pied by Perkins. The Sepoys shot them with 
their muskets and the Sowars with their pistols, 
and then cut them to pieces with their swords. 
The man can give me no dates.* I hope yet to 
learn further particulars.” 

Next morning, in company with a friend, Mr. 
Owen walked up to the Savadah Kothi, and rec¬ 
ognized the main features of the place remain- 


*It was subsequently ascertained to have occurred on the 13th of 
June. The party had been taken off the island on the 12tli. 


RETURNING TO WORK. 


207 


ing as he had formerly known them. There, 
also, he found a man who told him that “he saw 
a company of Europeans, gentlemen, ladies and 
children, being led bound from the direction of 
the Savadah Kotlii to the plain below, between 
that place and Wheeler’s entrenchment, and 
there, by order of the Nana, who was present on 
horseback, shot, and afterward cut to pieces with 
swords. 

“We have no doubt that all is well with them 
—that they have long since been at rest. The 
struggle was doubtless sharp, yet short. Christ 
was near, who has said, ‘I will never leave you 
nor forsake you.’ . . . AVe have been busy all day 
taking the statements of some native Christians 
from Futtehghur.” 

On the following day Mr. Owen visited the 
scene of the fearful treachery to Wheeler and 
his party after their capitulation. “The road 
from the entrenchment down to the river is 
pretty direct. Some walked, others went on 
carts and in doolies , and some of the sick and 
wounded were taken on elephants. Wheeler 
walked down supporting his two daughters on 
his arms, accompanied by Thompson. At the 
ghaut is a large Hindu temple. Below the 
temple, on the shore, is a line of native houses. 
On a rising ground beyond these houses were 


208 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

planted three guns. Near a bungalow still high¬ 
er up the river was another gun, and two more 
were on the Oude side. In the river is a sand¬ 
bank, which at that time was covered with about 
a foot of water. The boats—about forty—were 
therefore confined in a narrow creek near the 
shore. Just as they were pushing off the guns 
opened upon them with grape, killing many in 
the boats near. Some of the boats went on ; 
these were hit by round-shot, and sunk. The 
one in which Thompson was took fire, and he 
swam to another, ahead. Another near this was 
sinking, and all the passengers, including about 
sixty women and children, were taken on board. 
This boat and another managed to get beyond 
the reach of the guns, and went on down several 
miles. The rebels pursued, firing upon them 
with muskets from the bank. At last a party of 
fourteen w r ent ashore to clear them out. They 
succeeded, but lost just half their number. The 
remaining seven, finding themselves closely 
pressed, made a stand in a Hindu temple. They 
saw nothing more of the boats they had left. 
Finding themselves cut off from returning to 
the boats, they started to swim down stream. 
They swam several miles, but three of the seven 
were either drowned or killed by the enemy, who 
followed them, firing upon them. When no 


RETURNING TO WORK. 


209 


longer pursued, and quite exhausted, they saw 
some natives on shore beckoning to them. They 
stopped and had a parley with them, standing in 
the water at a distance. They distrusted, but 
had no alternative, and so gave themselves up. 
The natives were kind and faithful, and through 
their assistance Lieutenants Thompson and De- 
lafosse and Privates Murphy and Sullivan, the 
only survivors of the party who embarked at 
the Gola Ghaut, were taken into Havelock’s 
camp, near Futtehpore. Sullivan has since died, 
Murphy is said to have been killed at Alumbagh 
and Delafosse has partly gone mad. Thompson 
is here, wounded from a ball he got the other 
day at Cal pee. 

“Feb. 14 , Sabbath. —To-day at eleven a. m. I 
had worship in Hindustanee here in the tent with 
four of our Futtehghur Christians and a few 
others. ... I long to get settled at my work again. 
I would not exchange my calling as a missionary 
for all the honors and emoluments in the gift of 
either my native land or Great Britain. And 
yet, if I look at what I have done, I have rea¬ 
son for nothing but the deepest humiliation, for 
I can see nothing of my work remaining. We 
must, however, remember that the progress of 
God’s kingdom does not depend on our individual 
efforts any further than his good pleasure makes 
u 


210 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


it so. He may own and bless our faith and labor 
and make them to advance his glory in a way of 
which we have no conception. Through the 
united faith and prayer and effort of his Church 
he. will manifest his glory among the heathen 
and extend and establish his kingdom throughout 
the whole earth. The ruins of Allahabad and 
Futtehpore and Cawnpore and Futtehghur and 
Agra and Delhi, if not all in a material, yet in 
a spiritual, sense, shall be built up, and Christ’s 
kingdom appear great and glorious in all these 
places. It is comforting to know that all these 
things are in the hand of our God, and that 
though we die, Jesus Christ remains the same 
yesterday, to-day and for ever. 

“ The ploughmen, artisans and shopkeepers 
are, in general, passively and negatively loyal. 
Most of these are Hindus. Passing through the 
country, you would scarcely, without previous 
knowledge of the fact, suppose the people to be in 
a state of rebellion. To a certain extent they are 
not, and to a certain extent they are. The revolt 
is something more than a military mutiny, and 
yet, with the exception of Oude, Rohilkund and 
Bundelkund, it can scarcely be called a national 
rebellion. The ignorant, unstable, selfish people 
are always ready for anything that promises a 
greater present good, having little foresight as 


RETURNING TO WORK. 


211 


to the future. The Bible, and the Bible alone, 
can raise them from their ignorance, superstition 
and degradation and make real men of them. 
When they become Christians, then we may look 
for something good, amiable and noble in them. 
Some of the natives, and Sepoys too, have stuck 
to us nobly. This is a fact not to be forgotten. 
When the gospel works upon their hearts, we 
shall have a good, amiable, if not a great, people. 

“ Is it not remarkable that the Punjab, where 
Sir John Lawrence and Mr. Montgomery have 
all through the mutiny openly favored mission¬ 
ary operations, has remained so quiet, and, in 
fact, been the means of saving India? Major 
Edwards, at Peshawar, has from the beginning 
of his rule in that place favored missionary 
work. . . . How remarkably has God fulfilled his 
word as regards the rulers of the Punjab—‘Them 
that honor me I will honor’! How different 
things are in the regulation provinces, where the 
old traditional and conciliation policy is the 
order of the day! 

“ Mr. Grant, our present lieutenant-governor, 
seldom, if ever, goes to church, and clings to the 
anti-Christian policy. The missionaries in Be¬ 
nares raised a corps of about four hundred na¬ 
tive Christians for government service; Mr. 
Grant declined taking them lest the Hindus and 


212 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

Mohammedans should take offence. The mis¬ 
sionaries in Krishnaghur, in Bengal, not long 
since wished the native Christians to enlist in 
government service, and the native Christians 
themselves desired to do so, but Lord Canning 
and Mr. Halliday refused to accept them. All 
that we want is that the native Christians have 
fair play —not be favored because they are 
Christians, nor be rejected on that account, but 
if they are otherwise qualified that they be, 
equally with Mohammedans and Hindus, eligible 
to government service. The native Christian 
whom I sent with Walter Freeling followed his 
master on the 25th of September through that 
terrible firing into the residency, and, I hear, has 
done very well. I sent a company of native 
Christians to engage in government service under 
court. All the officers who have had them on 
service speak well of them. 

“I long to get settled at my work again. I 
came here hoping to be able to get on to Agra 
and consult with my brethren there about our 
future labors, so as to secure, as far as possible, 
unity in our plans. The road to Agra has been 
opened and government vans have been running. 
Within a day or two, however, they say, it has 
become unsafe, and that rebels are crossing from 
Oude to get into Central India. 


RETURNING TO WORK. 


213 


“ I am awkwardly situated, as I have no books, 
having lost all but my Hebrew Bible, Greek 
Testament and a very few others. I have no 
lexicons or commentaries, nor other books of 
reference. However, Jehovah-jireh. For the 
present I shall give myself as much as possible 
to native preaching. 

“ May the blessed gospel soon bring peace and 
happiness to this now distracted and wretched 
land! Though all is now shaken, yet God’s 
promises remain the same and his foundation 
stands sure. My own work, so far as I see, has 
been destroyed, but I am not discouraged. Nil 
desperandum Jem duce . The work is not ours, 
but God’s. It may be his will to burn up all 
our wood, hay and stubble in order to bring out 
more distinctly and gloriously to view his own 
immovable foundation and to render the glory 
of his name illustrious. To his name be all 
glory. Though cast down, we are not destroyed ; 
though faint, we are still pursuing. Oh that we 
might be more than ever devoted to Him who 
loved us and gave himself for us!” 

On the 19th of February, the road being 
deemed safe, Mr. Owen proceeded in a govern¬ 
ment van to Agra. Along the way for twenty 
miles or more from Cawnpore he found detach¬ 
ments of military and mounted patrols guarding 


214 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE . 

the fords of the Ganges and the country in every 
direction, to keep the Nana and his people from 
crossing and molesting the great convoy of ladies 
now on the way from Agra to Allahabad. “ I 
stopped a few minutes to see the mission bun¬ 
galow at Mynpurie, which has been burnt. The 
walls are good, and the chapel might soon be set 
right.” At Agra he met with the missionaries 
Fullerton, Scott and Williams, and a few other 
friends, held the desired conference in relation 
to their future operations, examined with them 
the ruins of the mission premises, and on the 
26th left Agra on his way to Futtehghur, which 
he reached on the evening of the 27th. “I 
directed the driver to take me at once to the 
mission premises at Rakha. As we approached 
I saw the mission church by moonlight at a dis¬ 
tance. When we came up, I found it all in 
ruins, only the walls and steeple standing. The 
mission bungalows had been burned in June, 
and their walls and the walls of all the adjoining 
buildings present a dismal scene of desolation.” 

Mr. Owen collected as many as he could of 
the native Christians, encouraged them and spent 
the Sabbath and held divine service with them, 
and next Wednesday was in Cawnpore, from 
which he proceeded without impediment on his 
return to Allahabad. 


CHAPTER XII. 


RESTORATION OF THE MISSION. 

N the 19th of March, 1858, the capture of 
^ Lucknow was completed. The rebellion lost 
the force of concentration, and it only remained 
to reduce the separate groups of mutineers who 
held “ some of the strongholds of Central India 
and Rajpootana ” or who roved about the coun¬ 
try for plunder. By the beginning of April, 
Mr. Owen had again taken up his residence in 
the school-building at Allahabad, having repaired 
it far enough for the accommodation of his wife 
and himself. “I am preaching/’ he writes, “to 
the people in the city almost every day, and they 
attend pretty well. . . . The railway is open as 
far as Futtehpore, and the train runs there and 
back daily. They expect to open it as far as 
Cawnpore in June or July ; so I hope the rebels 
will not be able to do much more mischief in 
this part of the country. I am expecting Gopi- 
nath and his family from Calcutta very soon to 
make arrangements for beginning the missionary 

215 


216 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

work at Futtehpore again. These troubles must 
not discourage us, but we must pray and labor 
more earnestly than ever for these poor heathen. 
The worse they are, the more need have they of 
the gospel.” 

Allahabad was now occupied as the seat of 
government for the North-western Provinces, and 
the erection of public buildings for both civil 
and military service brought a great increase of 
European population and rendered it more than 
ever important as a missionary station. At first - 
the whole work of resumption had to be done by 
Mr. Owen alone. He had to see to the necessary 
repairs of the buildings which admitted of being 
repaired, and of building new where the ruin 
was complete. He gathered the little native con¬ 
gregation together and conducted regular relig¬ 
ious service with them, discharging among them 
the duties of a missionary pastor. As secretary 
of the North India Bible and tract societies he 
had to carry on a large correspondence. Besides 
the care of his own station, he found himself 
also called upon by the circumstances of the case 
to act as a transit agent in general for boxes and 
parcels without number coming from Calcutta 
for friends up the country, while his house and 
much of his time were occupied by a constant 
succession of friends passing up and down. 


RESTORATION OF THE MISSION. 


217 


In prosecuting the war to its termination in 
Oude both Lord Canning, the governor-general, 
and Lord Clyde, the commander-in-chief, made 
their headquarters in Allahabad, and with the 
forces thereby assembled in that city mission 
work could be conducted with safety, but in cir¬ 
cumstances far from favorable to success. 

As late as October 15, Mr. Owen wrote: 

“ The general hope is that by the close of this 
cold weather order and authority will be re-estab¬ 
lished. The old chief is slow in making: a begin- 
ning. I hear he is not to leave Allahabad before 
the 20th ; portions of the trunk-road will probably 
become unsafe again for a time. It is supposed 
by some that the rebels, when driven from Oude, 
may attempt to cross the Doab and effect a 
junction with Tantia Topi in the South.* But 
if we are on the alert, there is no serious ground 
of apprehension regarding the result. 

“ I have been busy repairing our mission 
church for several months past, and a few weeks 
since we reopened it for service. The press we 
shall not re-establish. Pending the decision of 
that question by our home committee I had one 
of the old iron presses repaired, and began job- 

* Tantia Topi, in whose hands the mutiny terminated in a kind 
of guerilla warfare in Central India, was captured, tried by court- 
martial and hanged April 18, 1859. 


218 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

work at my own risk with the few types we 
picked up after the mutiny. During the few 
months of waiting for the committee’s decision 
the native Christian workmen carried it on so 
vigorously that when the answer came I had in 
hand, after paying their wages in full and all 
the other expenses of the establishment, and 
making up some back pay, one thousand rupees 
to hand over to the mission treasury. With the 
Board’s sanction, I have sold the remains of the 
press to the native brethren, and they are now 
carrying it on, on their own account. With 
their savings they are laying in a new stock, and 
I trust they will succeed well. I have no pecu¬ 
niary responsibility in regard to them, but assist 
them in every way I can, as a friend.” 

In reconstructing the mission at Allahabad it 
was deemed necessary greatly to reduce the 
extent of operations, and Mr. Owen, though he 
did not change his mind respecting the import¬ 
ance of education, now thought that for the time 
then being it would be better to have the teach¬ 
ing done by an auxiliary society, that all the 
funds of the Foreign Mission Board might be 
devoted entirely to the work of preaching the 
gospel. 

As secretary of the North India Bible and 
tract societies, the headquarters of which had 


RESTORATION OF THE MISSION. 


219 


been removed from Agra to Allahabad, Mr. 
Owen had much to do in the way of supplying 
fhe European soldiers in the northern provinces 
with Bibles, tracts and other Christian books. 
In that work he was sometimes cheered by re¬ 
ceiving letters from chaplains and others tell¬ 
ing of the good which those books were doing, 
among the soldiers. December 20, 1858, he 
writes: 

“ There has been a revival of religion in one 
of the Highland regiments, and several of the 
soldiers have become hopefully converted. In 
some of the regiments, even on the field of bat¬ 
tle, prayer-meetings are regularly kept up. 

“ I am preparing to reprint my commentary 
on the Psalms, which was burnt here during the 
mutiny. Much of it I have to rewrite, but hope 
to get it ready by and by. I am also going on 
with preaching. We need an outpouring of 
the Holy Spirit such as the Church in America 
has been enjoying. ... We have a weekly union 
prayer-meeting, attended by Episcopalians, Bap¬ 
tists and Presbyterians, held in the Bible de¬ 
pository. I trust it may result in good/" 

In January following (1859) Mr. and Mrs. 
Owen enjoyed a few days’ relaxation in a visit 
to their kinsman Mr. Arthur Lang at Lucknow. 
Under his experienced guidance the places re- 


220 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


nowned in the war were visited with a still fresh 
and vivid interest. 

“This morning he took us over Havelock’s 
route from the Char Bagh bridge, on the Cawn- 
pore road, down to the residency. What a 
wonderful place that residency is! I wonder 
more and more that any one came out of it alive. 
Truly, God has been with us, and we may regard 
his merciful dealings with us as pledges of the 
good in store for India. 

“ Oude is now quiet, and we have the blessing 
of peace once more. Mr. Montgomery has done 
a great work for this province during the few 
months of his rule. He leaves in February, to 
the regret of all here, to return to Labor, to take 
Sir John Lawrence’s place as lieutenant-gov¬ 
ernor of the Punjab. It is wonderful to see how 
the British power has again settled down here, 
on a firmer basis than ever. The greatest energy 
is apparent in all departments. 

“ The commander-in-chief is here, on his way 
from the campaign, which is now over. It has 
been admirably arranged and well carried out. 
The old chief will go home laden with honors to 
the enjoyment of domestic life. The troops are 
going off to their quarters, and everything seems 
settling down to a peace establishment. 

“ Tantia Topi, in Central India, may give 


RESTORATION OF THE MISSION. 


221 


trouble some little time longer. The Nana and 
begum have been driven off into the Nepal hills. 
If they are caught, the government will likely 
pardon—perhaps pension—them. The nawab 
of Furruckabad, who blew away English ladies 
from guns, has been pardoned. 

“ The missions here have made an encouraging 
beginning. The Episcopalians occupy the east 
and the Methodists the west side of the city. 
Crowds of people come round the preachers, 
many from curiosity—preaching being a new 
thing here—some probably from fear of the 
Europeans, and possibly a few from a spirit of 
inquiry. I preached the other evening a few 
rods from the Methodist mission to a large motley 
crowd numbering, one of the missionaries told 
me, about five hundred. The brethren in both 
missions feel much encouraged. The field is 
indeed wide, and I think a promising one.” 

After a few days at Lucknow, Mr. and Mrs. 
Owen returned by way of Cawnpore and Futteh- 
pore. At the latter place they enjoyed the hos¬ 
pitality of Gopinath, who was busy restoring the 
mission there. “ We are in a tent in Gopinath J s 
compound, near his chapel and bungalow, which 
are rapidly going on to completion. ... We are 
gradually rebuilding our mission at Allahabad, 
Futtehpore and Futtehghur. . . . Allahabad is 


222 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

undergoing great changes. We have now a 
biweekly newspaper published there, called the 
New Times . The changes at Cawnpore are also 
great, especially the railway-station, a magnificent 
pile of buildings which has sprung up within 
about eight months. But Cawnpore is a deso¬ 
late, gloomy place, especially rendered such by 
the recollection of our disasters there. 

“ Allahabad , Jan . 29, 1859. —We have a united 
Protestant prayer-meeting here, held weekly at 
the Bible depository. It is a Protestant prayer¬ 
meeting, not Presbyterian, Baptist nor Episcopa¬ 
lian, and it is held at the Bible depository rather 
than any particular church, the Bible being the 
rallying-point for Protestants. We began several 
weeks ago with only five or six, but with a deter¬ 
mination to persevere, and now the room can 
scarcely hold all that come. It is conducted in 
turn by Mr. Mackay, the chaplain, Mr. Williams, 
the Baptist minister, and myself. The interest 
in it seems to be increasing. How delightful it 
is to hear what God is doing in America and in 
Great Britain ! We communicate at these meet¬ 
ings the most recent religious intelligence we 
receive. ... At several stations in India these 
union praver-meetings are coming into existence.” 

At this time, however busily Mr. Owen was 
engaged in reorganization of the mission, pre- 


RESTORATION OF THE MISSION. 223 

paring books for instruction of Christian con¬ 
verts, Bible-and-tract-society work, and otherwise, 
he was not prevented from preaching to the 
people almost every day. 

The Lodiana mission, although it suffered se¬ 
verely in the mutiny, was not completely broken 
up, like that of Furruckabad—an advantage 
mainly due to the prompt and efficient manage¬ 
ment of Lawrence and Montgomery in the 
Punjab and the means taken by them to repel 
the advance of mutiny northward, but partly 
also to the policy adopted, after some wavering, 
by tire Sikhs. Mutiny, instead of spreading 
northward over the regions in which the Lodiana 
stations lie, was soon constrained to the south¬ 
east of those northern provinces. Its greatest 
strength and fiercest atrocities were exhibited 
on the field of the Furruckabad stations and the 
adjoining districts of Delhi, Bohilcund and Oude. 
In the Lodiana stations some damage was done 
to property and missionary operations were ob¬ 
structed, but no lives were lost. Deconstruction 
was also practicable there at an earlier date. The 
usual routine of labor was resumed soon after 
October, 1857, although for the succeeding year 
most of the time had to be spent in repairing, 
and in some cases rebuilding from the foundation. 
Occasion was also taken to enlarge the accommo- 


224 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

dations, for which means were supplied from an 
indemnity fund provided by the civil authorities. 

Some stations of that mission had been regu¬ 
larly occupied most of the time. Sabbath serv¬ 
ices had been kept up, and even preaching-tours 
made into the Punjab as early as October, 1857, 
by Messrs. Thackwell and Newton. The schools 
at Lodiana continued in operation, although with 
diminished numbers. The printing establishment, 
greatly damaged in the outbreak, was soon re¬ 
paired, and printing resumed toward the end of 
1857. The poorliouse arid leper asylum were also 
continued in operation.* 

Of the Furruckabad mission, consisting of six 
stations, at Agra, Mynpurie, Futtelighur, Futteh- 
pore, Allahabad and Banda, only that of Agra 
escaped entire deprivation of its missionaries. 
Ullmann of Mynpurie escaped to Agra;f those of 
Futtehghur were all slain except Walsh, who 
was then in America.J From Futtehpore, Gopi- 
nath was driven to seek refuge in Calcutta. All 
except Owen were sent from Allahabad in the be¬ 
ginning of the outbreak, and the station at Banda 
was at that crisis occupied by a native catechist 
and teacher, with his assistant. The native 
Christians were subjected to great hardships, and 

* F. M., May, 1859, p. 365. f Ibid., April, 1858, p. 351. 

X Ibid., May, 1858, p. 377. 


RESTORATION OF THE MISSION 


225 


some of them to death, and all valuable property 
was plundered or destroyed. 

Resumption of work at those stations was slow, 
as everything had to be recommenced almost 
from the beginning; the means were scanty and 
the workmen few. Besides the three brethren 
at Agra, and Ullmann, who had taken refuge 
with them, the only missionary in any of the 
stations was Owen. His operations were chiefly 
on behalf of Allahabad, and, through Gopinath, 
of Futtehpore, but he also co-operated with the 
brethren at Agra for the revival of the stations 
at Futtehghur and Mynpurie. It was for this 
purpose that while the conflict of arms was still 
going on he undertook his journey from Calcut¬ 
ta into the very heart of the theatre of war, that 
he might begin work at his own station and hold 
conference with those brethren at the earliest 
date possible. In that mission the stations had 
all to recommence with greatly limited means. 
At Agra and Allahabad some additional incon¬ 
venience was also for a time created by transfer 
of the seat of government. 

At Allahabad the mela was suspended in the 
first season after the mutiny. European soldiers 
stood upon the ramparts of the fort and threat¬ 
ened to shoot any native who might attempt to 
go and bathe at the sacred place. Next year 

15 


226 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


a few assembled, and the following year the num¬ 
ber amounted to a few thousands. Mr. Owen be¬ 
gan to preach among them, and found attentive 
listeners. 

At Futtehghur the only missionaries were Mr. 
and Mrs. J. L. Scott, who had been stationed at 
Agra before and during the mutiny. They were 
also assisted by a number of native helpers.* Mr. 
Fullerton, another of the Agra brethren, was at 
the close of the mutiny transferred to the second 
station of Futtehghur, more properly called that 
of Furruckabad. Mynpurie remained unoccupied 
by a missionary, the native teacher Babu Hulas 
Boy alone sustaining the cause at that station. 
In this depleted condition were the stations of the 
southern mission at a time when also it was felt 
by the missionaries on the ground that at least 
two more stations, Allyghur and Etawah, should 
be added to the number.f 

Mr. Owen was enabled to sustain the amount 
of work which thus fell to his share only by 
persevering regularity and order. October 31, 
1860, he writes: “ My health is good—never 
strong, but, with care, usually comfortable. A 
little imprudence would at any time upset me 
and render a trip to the hills or a voyage home 

* F. M., May, 1860, p. 379; comp, with July, 1857, p. 35. 

f Ibid., May, 1860, p. 401. 


RESTORATION OF THE MISSION. 


227 


necessary. People here sometimes wonder at my 
having been nearly twenty years in India and 
never yet having seen the hills, and young mis¬ 
sionaries, seeing me in such good health after so 
long an uninterrupted residence on the plains, 
take courage for themselves.” It had, however, 
been recommended to him that a trip to the 
mountains or his native land would be prudent 
as a measure of precaution. A visit to America 
had many attractions which he began to cherish 
the hope of enjoying, but his work in India was 
dear to him; there was yet no person in whose 
hands he could leave it, and in the end of 1860 his 
explanation of the Psalms for native Christians 
was being slowly carried through the press by 
the North India Tract Society: he could not 
expect to see it finished before another hot sea¬ 
son, and then it would be too late to set out on 
his homeward journey. So the project was of 
necessity postponed for another year, and ere 
that year had far advanced the news from home 
was such as to render a further postponement 
advisable. By the improved facilities of trans¬ 
port in India intelligence of the American civil 
war had reached the northern provinces early in 
the month of June, 1861; in that conflict Mr. 
Owen took a strong interest from the beginning 
on the loyal side and on behalf of the good of 


228 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

the whole country. “ The sad state of things at 
home is almost a constant subject of my thoughts, 
and is a subject of my daily prayer.” 

The Urdu commentary on the Psalms was 
completed and published the ensuing year, and 
a corresponding work on Isaiah undertaken. 

At the same time, in the famine prevailing in 
the neighborhood of Agra, to which he had been 
removed, Mr. Owen, as a member of the local 
relief committee, was brought into intimate re¬ 
lations with many of the sufferers, and made 
eye-witness of an appalling calamity which has 
so often befallen India, but which no government 
in that country until the British ever alleviated. 
Thousands in both city and country were daily 
fed at the public expense and by private benevo¬ 
lence. The famine was most severe in the dis¬ 
tricts where the mutiny began. 

It was in February, 1861, that Mr. Owen was 
removed to Agra. The missionary brethren 
wished him to go; his own judgment, which was 
not favorable to the change, he yielded to their 
wishes. On the same occasion he resigned his 
place as secretary of the North India Bible and 
tract societies, which he had held about three 
years. His apprehensions in respect to the 
change proved to be well founded, and at the 
end of two years he was recalled to his old sta- 


RESTORATION OF THE MISSION 


229 


tion, to which he returned in the beginning of 
March, 1863, and was soon reinstalled in his 
house by the Jumna, which had been rebuilt 
since its destruction in the mutiny. Again he 
was left in charge of the whole mission, the 
school, two native churches and bazar-preaching, 
besides his press work, which he steadily carried 
forward. But he remarks, “ I have a good staff 
of native preachers and assistants, foremost 
among whom is my dear old pupil Yunas. He 
has become an excellent man, and is greatly re¬ 
spected not only for his scholarship, but also for 
his high character.” Moreover, he had now no 
English services to conduct, the Church of Scot¬ 
land having appointed a chaplain for the British 
residents of Presbyterian persuasion. Mr. Wil¬ 
liamson, the chaplain, and Mr. Owen soon be¬ 
came intimately related in their respective work. 
“I occasionally,” writes Mr. Owen, “assist him, 
taking charge of his congregation when he goes 
to look after his Presbyterian flocks at Benares, 
Cawnpore and Lucknow.” 

After a year more of steady, persistent work 
among his beloved converts, but all alone as an 
American missionary at the station, the desire 
grew upon him to see once more his native land. 
Writing to his mother, May 7, 1864, he says, 
“ I have long been wishing to go home and pay 


230 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

you a visit before your departure from this world, 
but am beginning sincerely to fear that I shall 
never enjoy this great pleasure. In the present 
crippled state of our mission it would be quite 
impossible to leave without serious injury to the 
work. Here I am, alone at this station, where 
there should be at least three missionaries; and 
should I go, there is no one to take my place 
without leaving another station vacant. I do wish 
the Board would send us a good reinforcement 
soon. There are plenty of young men to vol¬ 
unteer for the war, but there seems to be but few 
volunteers for the missionary work. This should 
be done, while the other should not be left undone. 
I have never seen cause to regret that I became 
a missionary; my only cause of regret is that I 
have not been a more faithful and devoted one. 
When we meet in heaven, I will tell you how 
thankful I have reason to be that I was a mission¬ 
ary, and you will be thankful that your son 
became a missionary. The time passes rapidly, 
and soon we shall be there—soon we shall be 
with our blessed Saviour. May he give us grace 
to be faithful unto death !” 

Meanwhile, the laborious missionary—alone, as 
such, in the management of his station in the 
midst of a vast populace of Europeans, Hindus 
and Mohammedans, where he felt his sole efforts 


RESTORATION OF THE MISSION. 


231 


to be as nothing and his appeals for more work¬ 
men unheeded—was not forgotten nor unheeded 
at home. Fellow-workmen were getting ready 
to go out to join him, and in recognition of his 
scholarship, his biblical labors and his heroic 
efforts during the mutiny and in re-establishing 
the mission station, Princeton College, at the 
commencement in 1864, conferred upon him the 
degree of Doctor in Divinity. 

Within the same year another of his early 
friends in college and fellow-laborers on Indian 
ground fell by the hand of violence. In a letter 
of date June 2,1864, he thus relates the event: 
Levi Janvier “ was one of my dearest and most 
intimate friends in college and since we came to 
India. He had been preaching at a mela at 
Armudpoor. He and Mr. Carleton and Mrs. 
Carleton and Mrs. Janvier, with their native 
assistants, had been there for several days. Mrs. 
Janvier and Mrs. Carleton, with the assistance 
of some native Bible women, had obtained access 
to several native women, while the gentlemen 
had labored among the crowds. Nothing un¬ 
pleasant had occurred, no unpleasant discussion 
of any kind; on the contrary, all seemed most 
respectful and attentive. On the last day of the 
mela , the 24th of March, Mr. Janvier labored 
very hard. Toward evening he preached on the 


232 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

coming of our Lord, and seemed unusually 
solemn. At the close of the day he proposed 
that they should have the communion. The 
native Christians expressed surprise, as it was 
not Sunday, but he said it would be most appro¬ 
priate, as they were all to separate on the follow¬ 
ing morning and go different ways; so at seven 
o’clock in the evening they surrounded the com¬ 
munion-table in his tent, he leading the services 
and singing with his usual vigor the hymn 
beginning with the words, 

‘ Arasta ho, Ai meri j&n! ’ * 

a Hindustanee hymn often sung at our commu¬ 
nion seasons. At nine o’clock he went out to 
make arrangements for marching on the following 
morning, and as he stepped to a cart to give an 
order a Sikh fanatic suddenly struck him insen¬ 
sible with two blows on the head, one of which 
fractured his skull over the right eye. The man 
instantly attempted to run away, but was pursued 
and seized by the servants and native Christians, 
while Mr. Carleton carried his bleeding brother 
into the tent. He lay groaning, but quite un¬ 
conscious, during the whole night, and expired 
early on the following morning. His remains 
were taken to Hoshiarpore for a post-mortem 

* “ Be ready, O my soul!” 


RESTORATION OF THE MISSION. 233 

examination, and then sent on to Lodiana and 
interred by the side of his first wife. He was a 
man of superior scholarship, and of eminent 
qualifications for his great missionary work.” 

On the 26th of April another laborer in the 
same field was slain, shot by his chaukidar at 
Peshawar. “ Isidore Lowenthal, a Polish Jew 
by birth, but a naturalized American citizen, 
had translated the New Testament into Pushtu— 
the language of the Afghans—and was eminent 
in Oriental scholarship. His death too is a great 
loss to us.” 

Mr. Lowenthal was a graduate of Lafayette 
College and of the theological seminary at 
Princeton, wffiere he left a reputation for ex¬ 
traordinary Oriental learning. His object in 
making those attainments was to preach the 
gospel among the heathen of the Eastern world. 
A pious British officer in the Indian army deeply 
interested in the conversion of the Afighans of¬ 
fered to the American missionaries of the north¬ 
west a sum of money to establish a mission at 
Peshawar, with an ultimate view to that people, 
and for the immediate purpose of translating the 
New Testament into their language furnished the 
amount of seven thousand five hundred dollars. 
No question could be raised as to the propriety 
of appointing Mr. Lowenthal to that service, 


234 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


He commenced in company with Dr. Morrison 
at Eawal Pindee in 1855, but two years after¬ 
ward removed to Peshawar. By the middle of 
April, 1864, his work was complete; the New 
Testament was rendered into Pushtu and ready 
to be sent over the dangerous border which no 
missionary had yet dared to pass. No Presby¬ 
terian successor has taken the place at which 
Lowenthal fell. 

Before the same year closed a nearer calamity 
clouded Dr. Owen’s own household. The pru¬ 
dent and affectionate companion of his cares and 
labors for twenty years was removed from his 
side by death. Mrs. Owen was a woman of 
excellent judgment in practical matters, quiet 
and cheerful in manner, of eminent piety, deeply 
interested in her husband’s work, an ornament 
to his household, and, as he expressed it, “a sweet 
companion, a stay and support and great com¬ 
fort to me to the last minute of her life.” She 
died on the 14th of December, 1864. Her 
social qualities had endeared her to the better 
class of European residents, and her unostenta¬ 
tious but ever-active efforts to do good among 
them to the poor Christian natives. A great 
assemblage of both attended her remains to their 
last resting-place, and, although her happy death 
in Christ removed from friends the bitterness of 


RESTORATION OF THE MISSION. 


235 


sorrow, many lamented it as a personal bereave¬ 
ment to themselves. 

During his wife’s long illness of more than 
two months much of Dr. Owen’s work stood 
still, arid after her death his friends Mr. and Mrs. 
Arthur Lang, then residing at Simla, urged 
him to withdraw from the station for a time and 
seek recuperation for his own depressed health 
in a visit to themselves among the hills. Others 
suggested a visit to England or his native coun¬ 
try ; but when his thoughts could be collected 
again about his work, he felt too much the im¬ 
portance of what needed to be done to take any 
time from it, and, moreover, the season he thought 
unsuitable. Postponing his trip to the hills until 
the hot weather, he at once plunged into the 
round of daily missionary duties and the enter¬ 
prises by which he hoped to extend the influence 
of the gospel beyond the sound of his own voice. 
He had already made some progress in a second 
revision of the Hindi Bible, and in bringing out 
an explanation of Isaiah for the purpose of 
instructing the native Christians in the gospel 
argument from prophecy. He also found much 
comfort in the daily exercises of the week of 
prayer which followed soon upon his bereavement. 
Three months later he writes, “It seems an age 
since I saw her, so long has each day appeared 


236 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


since her departure. It has been mercifully 
ordered that I have so much work fully to occupy 
my time and thoughts. I would like much to 
go home at once, but have work in hand which 
I cannot leave. If spared in health, I hope to 
have all so settled as to be able to leave in about 
two years, to go home for some two years, and 
then return for the rest of my days.” 

His home was now lonely and desolate. He 
reijioved to rooms in the printing-house, where 
he lived with Mr. Wilson, now his colleague, and 
devoted himself with unremitting assiduity to 
his tasks. But, as the succeeding spring ad¬ 
vanced the necessity of that relaxation so often 
contemplated and so often postponed began to be 
apparent to himself as well as others. In accord¬ 
ance with the urgent advice of friends, a trip 
was undertaken to the mountains, which event¬ 
ually extended into regions seldom visited by 
Europeans. 


CHAPTER XIII. 


A TRIP TO SIMLA AND IN THE HIMALAYA. 



ALKS over high mountains and rugged 


" * cliffs and through regions of cold and 
snow during the month of June, when the plains 
of India are in a blaze, have given health and 
vigor beyond what I have enjoyed for years past. 

“ On the 24th of April, 1865, when the heat 
had already become terrific, I left Allahabad for 
Simla, with a view of accompanying friends as 
far as Chini and Pangi, in Upper Kanawar, 
fifteen marches from Simla. The journey ulti¬ 
mately extended as far as Shipki, the frontier- 
town of Chinese Thibet, eight marches beyond 
Pangi. 

“ The first sight of the Himalaya slightly dis¬ 
appointed me, as I expected to see them rising 
more abruptly from the plains, whereas the spurs 
about Kalka seemed not higher than such spurs 
of the Vindliyas as touch the district of Allah¬ 
abad. With as little delay as possible I prepared 
for the ascent, and, having made all needed 


237 


238 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

arrangements, took my seat in that strange 
conveyance called the jampan —a kind of chair 
carried on men’s shoulders—peculiar to the hills. 
Taking a narrow path about six feet wide which 
winds about the mountain-sides, as we ascended 
lovely views opened in every direction. I was 
not prepared to see such beautiful verdure on the 
hillsides. This loveliness prevails all through the 
lower Himalaya, but in the upper Himalaya, near 
and above Chini, the appearance is quite different. 
The terrace-cultivation seen on our way up, in 
some places rising by regular steps from the 
bottom of deep valleys up the sides nearly to 
the top, is very picturesque, and almost equally so 
are the pathways made by the cattle around the 
sides of the hills when grazing, rising above each 
other like steps. By and by we came into the 
midst of wild flowers, when the air was filled 
with fragrance. The oppressive heat of the plains 
was left behind, and I got out and walked a few 
miles with a new delight. The house of my 
friends was approached by a steep path down the 
side of a mountain, where I at once found myself 
in a pleasant home in a grove of oak, cedar and 
rhododendron, with lovely views of the snowy 
range from the veranda, and in air of delicious 
coolness where a blanket instead of a punkah 
was necessary at night, and where broadcloth 


IN THE HIMALA l r A. 


239 


instead of the white summer-cloth was requisite 
for comfort during the day. It was pleasant to 
see snow again, even at a distance, after an in¬ 
terval of a quarter of a century. The walks 
about Simla at almost every turn furnished some 
new and interesting views in different directions. 
The sun, from the rarefied atmosphere, at an 
elevation of seven thousand feet, had still great 
power, although it was delightfully cool in the 
shade. 

“ Simla is not a favorable place for a mission¬ 
ary station. The native population—attracted 
here to make as much out of the European pop¬ 
ulation as possible—is not a promising one to 
work upon, and the missionary’s great personal 
danger would be that of becoming lost in the 
vortex of European society. I found among old 
friends and a few new ones a pleasant group of 
God’s dear people, with whom in the prayer- 
meeting and the social circle I enjoyed edifying- 
intercourse. I preached a few times among the 
natives, but spent most of my time in a course 
of reading I had marked out for my holiday. 
In this way, diversified by long pleasant walks 
and excursions among lovely scenery, the time 
rapidly passed away until the date of our depart¬ 
ure into the interior of the Himalaya.” 

In the succeeding part of his tour Dr. Owen 


240 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

and his companions pursued, in general, the 
course of the Sutlej, which traverses circuitously 
the whole breadth of the mountain-band, wind¬ 
ing round or cutting through successive ridges 
and descending from its sources in Thibet to the 
plains of India, about ten thousand feet. In 
many places its channel is confined to a deep and 
narrow gorge, compelling the traveler to seek his 
way by mountain-passes in some cases of great 
elevation and difficulty. 

On the 15tli of June the party crossed another 
range of the Himalaya by the Ruining Pass, 
fourteen thousand three hundred and fifty four 
feet high, from which another commanding view 
was obtained of the multitude of summits among 
which they were traveling. Their lodging-place 
for the night was Sungnum, more than three 
thousand feet below. So far on the way I)r. 
Owen had preached to the people of the villages 
in Hindi and found himself understood, but in 
Sungnum that language was known by very few. 
Next day they had not proceeded far beyond 
Sungnum when they met Mr. Pagell, a Moravian 
missionary whose station was at Spoe, a place sev¬ 
eral miles farther on. Mr. Pagell was astonished 
to see Europeans pressing so far into the heart 
of the mountains, but was greatly pleased to see 
a brother-missionary. He was then going to the 


IN THE HIMALA YA. 


241 


forests for building-material, but invited them, 
on their arrival at Spoe, to pitch their tents on 
his ground. Next morning he joined them at 
breakfast. They now learned from him that he 
had opposition to encounter at Spoe, and that a 
deputation had been sent to the raja of Bussahir, 
through the commissioner at Simla, to effect his 
removal. That morning he had received the 
good news that the raja was his friend. In a 
letter to his address the raja informed him that 
he had the delegates flogged and another party, 
called the Wazir, reprimanded. 

The traveling-party accepted Mr. Pagell’s in¬ 
vitation, and pitched their tents on his ground. 
He had, in fact, no better accommodation for 
himself; having bought two fields from the raja 
of Bussahir, he thereon- set up his tent for him¬ 
self, with his wife and child, until he could erect 
a house, which he should have to build with his 
own hands. The advantages of the site chosen 
were that it was out of the way of rocks that 
often come rolling down from the mountains, out 
of the way of avalanches and well supplied with 
snow-water. There men, women and children 
all spoke the Thibetan language, and there the 
solitary missionary intended to establish Thibetan 
vernacular schools. Of this Moravian station in 
the heart of the Himalaya, Hr. Owen writes: 

16 


242 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


“ We spent a Sabbath, the 18th of June, in Spoe, 
where I heard Mr. Pagell discourse to twenty- 
two people near his tent in the Thibetan language. 
The audience was quite different from any I had 
ever seen, some with Chinese, the rest with Tar¬ 
tar, features. Spoe is the door to Thibet, and 
here, nominally under protection of the raja of 
Bussahir, but virtually under the British pro¬ 
tection, I trust the Moravian Brethren will in 
time find an open door into that region and nation. 
Mr. Pagell here, like his brethren in Lahaul, is 
four months of the year quite shut in by snow 
from the outer world. He is alone with his wife 
and child, two hundred miles away from any of 
his brethren.” 

The journey and residence in the Himalaya, 
designed to be limited to‘a month, were prolonged 
through the hot season and far into the succeeding. 
Dr. Owen did not see Allahabad again until the 
middle of December. With mind and body great¬ 
ly refreshed, he returned to the full routine of 
duty. 

Next three years of almost uninterrupted toil. 
Then, in the midst of frequent preaching in Eng¬ 
lish and the native languages in the church, in 
the bazars, in the school and at the melas , with 
much daily routine-work, which eats indescriba¬ 
bly into a man's time and energies, and occasional 


IN THE HIMALAYA. 


243 


periods of discouraging despondency, his second 
edition and revision of the Old-Testament Bible 
in Hindi and his exposition of Isaiah for Hindu- 
stanee readers were completed. 

While thus laboring under a sense of desolate¬ 
ness he formed the acquaintance of one who was 
to become a new light to his household, the 
affectionate and helpful companion of his later 
years. On the 16th of April, 1867, he was 
married to Mary Jane, daughter of Dr. D. C. 
Bell of the Bombay medical service, who was 
then on a visit to Dr. and Mrs. Irving at Allah¬ 
abad. 

“ Soon after the revision of the New Testament 
a committee consisting of Messrs. Schneider, 
Leupoldt, Kennedy and Owen was appointed to 
revise the Old Testament. This edition of two 
volumes, under the superintendence of Dr. Owen, 
was brought out at the Allahabad mission press 
in 1852 and 1855. The edition was destroyed 
in the mutiny, and now another edition and 
revision have been completed under the super¬ 
intendence of the former editor. Of this the 
first volume was issued in 1866, and the second 
in the beginning of 1869.”* 

Meanwhile, the fellow-laborers of his earlier 
years at Allahabad and other stations of the 

* British and Foreign Bible Society. 


244 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


lower mission had all disappeared from the field ; 
some had returned home, and some had gone to 
their final rest. Of those who had been his 
companions in college, Freeman and Janvier had 
met with violent deaths. His friends among the 
civil residents and military officers were also 
diminished in number and their places supplied 
by strangers. The very changes which were 
improvement upon the city and neighborhood 
went to remove some features of the place which 
had taken hold of his affections. In the midst 
of his work, when for an hour he occasionally 
sought relaxation in society, the absence of old 
friends impressed him sadly. 


CHAPTER XIV. 


WORK COMPLETED. 

HI HE last proof-sheet of Hr. Owen’s revision of 
the Hindi Old Testament was returned to the 
printer on the 22d of January, 1869, and that 
of the commentary on Isaiah on the 5th of 
February following. On the 9th of the same 
month, at the end of eight and twenty years 
from his arrival in India, he left Allahabad on 
the long-projected visit to his native country. 
It was his purpose to visit on the way Egypt, 
Palestine, Greece, Italy, France, Germany and 
the British Isles, to spend two years upon the 
journey and in the United States, and then to 
return and devote the rest of his days to India. 
The evangelization of India was ever uppermost 
in his mind, first and last of all earthly things. 

When it was known in Allahabad that Hr. 
Owen had fully decided upon a visit to Europe 
and America, various testimonials to his industry, 
learning, missionary zeal and social virtues were 
given by different classes of the residents and 

245 


246 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

native Christians. The Session of the Scottish 
Presbyterian church for British residents in 
Allahabad very warmly expressed their obliga¬ 
tions to him for assistance rendered both in word 
and in deed, and the North India Bible Society 
recognized the value of his Bible work by reso¬ 
lutions of thanks and by contributing toward 
the expenses of his contemplated journey. 

With profound gratitude to God did Dr. Owen 
contemplate the completion of labors which had 
so long occupied his time and thoughts, and now, 
with a sense of freedom, as having one week’s 
work done, he turned his face buoyantly toward 
his native land for a day of rest. The railway to 
Bombay was in operation to a great length at 
both ends, but not yet complete. From Jubul- 
pore to Nagpore the connection was made by 
horse dak. At the latter place Dr. and Mrs. 
Owen spent a pleasant day in visiting the schools 
of the Free-Church-of-Scotland mission. Next 
day they proceeded by train to Poona, where 
they spent the Sabbath, and where Dr. Owen 
preached in the Scottish church. 

“ And now I am on my way home! What 
changes there since I left! No mother, no 
brothers, no sisters! My native country has 
become to me a strange land. In looking back 
upon my career I feel ashamed of much—very 


WORK COMPLETED. 


247 


much. I love the missionary work, but, alas! 
how little have I done! ‘To Thee belongeth 
mercy, but to me confusion of face.’” 

At Bombay they were entertained at the house 
of Dr. Wilson, where they met Narayan She- 
shadri and other learned Hindus. After visit¬ 
ing the caves and temples of Elephanta and 
other objects of curiosity in and about that great 
Indo-Anglican city, they embarked on the steamer 
for Suez. On the 5th of March they came to 
anchor in the harbor of Aden. 

The contemplated visit to Egypt, Palestine and 
Greece was leisurely accomplished and recorded. 
The rest of the journey was now pursued with 
little delay by way of Cyprus and Rhodes to 
Smyrna, thence, after a hasty visit to Athens, 
continued to Constantinople. His journal abounds 
with reminiscences of classical reading and notes 
of missionary enterprise. After a brief stay with 
the missionaries at Constantinople he went by 
the Black Sea to Varna and up the Danube to 
Vienna, where he was joined by his son, who had 
for some time been pursuing his studies in Ger¬ 
many. The little party now fell into the com¬ 
mon routes of travel by Trieste, Venice, Northern 
Italy, Switzerland and the Rhine, and, after a 
short residence at Bonn, to Scotland. On the 
20th of July they arrived in Edinburgh, intend- 


248 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

ing to spend the autumn and winter among friends 
in that city. Next summer they would all go to 
the United States, and in the end of that year 
return to India. In the society of a widening 
circle of learned and pious people the succeeding 
autumn and winter passed by, not without profit, 
spiritual and intellectual. Nor did the zealous 
missionary fail to avail himself of occasions, by 
public addresses and otherwise, to quicken a 
Christian interest in the work of sending the 
gospel to the heathen. 

About the beginning of April following, with 
Mrs. Owen, he went into England and spent a 
few weeks at Harrow and in the vicinity among 
friends, the family of Mr. Lang and others with 
whom he had been pleasantly associated many 
years before in India. With all the interest of 
a copious reader of English historical literature, 
he visited London, Windsor, Eton and the uni¬ 
versities of Cambridge and Oxford, in the latter 
making, among other highly-esteemed acquaint¬ 
ances, that of Professor Max Muller. In May 
he was again in Edinburgh in time to attend the 
sessions of the General Assemblies, before one 
of which—that of the Free Church—he delivered 
an address on the subject ever dearest to his 
heart. 

On the evening of July 17 he wrote, “ At this 


WORK COMPLETED. 


249 


quiet hour, at the close of a peaceful day during 
which a happy Sabbath calm has prevailed, it is 
difficult to realize that on the other side of the 
Channel two powerful nations are rushing to war.” 
Mrs. Owen had been absent for a short time in 
Germany. In view of the declaration of war, 
although her safety was in no danger, there was 
cause for anxiety about her being detained. She 
returned immediately. In recording his thanks 
to God for her safe restoration to the British side 
of the sea he adds, “ It is not yet a week since the 
declaration of war, though it seems more like a 
month, so many events have been crowded into 
this short period. The emperor chose the Sab¬ 
bath for sending his declaration of war to Berlin. 
On the 19th, Prevost Paradol committed suicide 
in Washington, shooting himself through the 
heart. This terrible war is bringing ruin to 
thousands, apart from the suffering and loss of 
life to tens of thousands, victims of an unprin¬ 
cipled man.” It was not then publicly known 
that the motives to the attack on Prussia did not 
originate with Napoleon, who bore for a time the 
reproach of provoking a disastrous conflict for a 
ridiculously inadequate cause. 

The visit to the United States was now post¬ 
poned until the hot weather should be over, and, 
although Dr. Owen was apparently in good 


250 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


health, it was thought that he might lay in a 
supply of energy for his contemplated future 
labors in India by a residence of a few weeks in 
the bracing air of the Scottish Highlands. Ac¬ 
cordingly, the summer was spent in Scotland. 
On the 6th of September he was at Corriesyke, 
Lochgoilhead, with his family. “ We came here 
on the 3d of August. Since that date wonder¬ 
ful events have taken place. Watching these 
from day to day has been a matter of absorbing 
attention. The emperor’s pantomime at Saarbruck 
on the 2d of August, the terrible battles of 
Wessenburg and Forbach on the 6th, in which 
the armies of MacMahon and Froisard were 
completely broken and scattered, and those near 
Metz, etc., on the 4th, 16th and 18th, in which 
Bazaine was driven back into Metz, and those in 
the neighborhood of Montmedy and Sedan last 
week, on the 29th, 30th, 31st of August and the 
1st of September, in which the army of Mac- 
Malioii was completely driven back upon Sedan 
and surrounded, the surrender of the emperor 
on the 2d and capitulation of MacMahon’s army, 
—these occurrences and their accompaniments 
have made the month one of the most eventful 
in history. In this quiet retreat at the head of 
this beautiful loch they have been studied and 
thought over and talkel over, sometimes climbing 


WORK COMPLETED. 


251 


the hills or boating on the loch, or walking or 
sitting on its shores. The invigorating fresh air 
has given new life to us all.” 

These words were the last Dr. Owen was ever 
to enter in his journal. A few days later his 
health began to decline, and upon his return to 
Edinburgh became gradually worse. This part 
of the narrative can be best told in the words of 
one who watched over him with the tender 
solicitude of appreciating love: 

“ Throughout his trying illness he exhibited a 
patient, unselfish spirit. He felt that his end 
might be near, but the thought gave no alarm, 
though it occasioned deep solemnity of spirit and 
increased prayerfulness. He had long walked 
with God, had devoted his life to his service, 
and was ready, his lamp lit and his loins girt, 
waiting for his Lord. Though ready to depart, 
yet he had for many days prayed for recovery, 
and said to me, ‘ I shall be thankful if God spares 
me to work a little longer in his vineyard and to 
be with you. But perhaps he has done with me 
for this world/ At another time, when speaking 
of his mission work, he said, ‘ If I had to choose 
over again now, I should choose as I have done.’ 
Again, with calm delight, he would say, as he 
lay with uplifted eyes, ‘Absent from the body, 
present with the Lord ! For ever with the Lord V 


252 TIIE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


pausing on each word. How delightful it will 
be to be for ever with the Lord ! 9 

“ On Saturday evening, the 3d of December, 
he seemed to be very weak and had a good deal 
of pain, and often during the night exclaimed, 
4 Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly !’ and he was 
much in silent prayer. Still, he did not think 
his end was so near. It was not until about 
eight o’clock next morning—Sabbath, the 4th 
December—that the doctor, on being called to 
see him, spoke to me the bitter words, ‘He can¬ 
not live through the day/ and then I seemed to 
realize the truth. Harry came, and I took his 
tenderly-loved babe to receive her last kiss. So 
all his dear ones were around him. God gra¬ 
ciously granted that his complaint should cease to 
trouble him, and he gathered strength to speak 
to all around him and to send loving messages to 
many in America and India. We were privileged 
to witness from that time till four p. m., when his 
gentle spirit fled away, the power of the peace¬ 
speaking blood of Christ, the Christian’s victory 
over death through Christ his risen Saviour. 
Among those he particularly mentioned on his 
death-bed were Dr. Moffat at Princeton, his 
earliest and dearest friend, and the venerable 
Dr. Hodge. To the native Christians at Allah¬ 
abad he sent the following: ‘Tell them to be 


WORK COMPLETED. 


253 


steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the 
work of the Lord, not seeking merely after 
worldly advancement, but seeking first the serv¬ 
ice of Christ/ Words of kindness, love and 
blessing were spoken to those around him. 
Whilst full of humility and simple trust in his 
Saviour’s merits alone, yet in faith and with joy 
he could say, ‘ “ I have fought the good fight, I 
have finished my course, I have kept the faith; 
henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of 
righteousness.” “ We know that if our earthly 
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have 
a building of God, a house not made with hands, 
eternal in the heavens.” “Unto me, who am 
less than the least of all saints, hath this grace 
been given, that I should preach among the 
Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” But 
I am a poor wretched creature in myself. Oh 
that I had been more faithful!’ As the bells 
were ringing for forenoon service Dr. Candlisli 
came in, and after saying a few words repeated. 

4 I have fought the good fight/ etc. 4 1 thank 
God!’ he exclaimed, with much emphasis. Dr. 
Candlish’s comforting words and his prayer he 
enjoyed much, and on parting said, 4 Farewell, 
dear brother; we may not meet again in the 
flesh/— 4 No,’ replied Dr. Candlish, 4 but it may 
not be long/” 


254 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

An hour later Dr. Duff received the following 
note: 

“Sabbath Mokning, 10 . 30 . 

“ My Dear Dr. Duff : I am sitting beside 
Dr. Owen, who is drawing very near his end in 
great, in sweetest peace. He wants much to see 
you before his departure, if it is at all within 
your power; and the sooner, the better, for our 
beloved friend will not be long on this side 
Jordan. I hope you will be able to come at 
once. 

“ Yours, etc., 

“ Robert S. Candlish.” 

No time was lost in responding to that invita¬ 
tion. Dr. Duff subsequently wrote as follows: 
“ I found our dear friend very weak, but in per¬ 
fect consciousness. He warmly grasped my hand, 
saying how glad he was I had come, saying it 
was kind, etc. Blessed words of Scripture he 
responded to.. Every now and then he said, 
4 Jesus, blessed Jesus V almost in a gentle rapture. 
After praying with him he fell into a tranquil 
slumber ; so I left for my work, rejoicing at the 
grace of God. I afterward learned that our be¬ 
loved friend gently fell asleep in Jesus at four 
o'clock.” 

“ I fear,” says one who knew Dr. Owen well, 


WORK COMPLETED. 


255 


“that it will be impossible to have a faithful 
record of his unobtrusive though useful and 
laborious life, and of his manliness, his sweet sim¬ 
plicity of character and his childlike trust in his 
God and Saviour, his eye single to the glory of 
God and advancement of his kingdom. All 
praise be to God’s grace in him !” 

When the news of Dr. Owen’s death reached 
Allahabad, the Kev. J. Williamson, chaplain of 
the Scottish Established church in that city, 
preached a sermon before his congregation from 
2 Tim. iv. 7, “ I have fought the good fight,” etc., 
from which I am permitted to make the follow¬ 
ing quotation : 

“ Since last I preached in this pulpit there has 
come to us the intelligence that one who regularly 
worshiped in this church, who frequently dis¬ 
pensed to you the bread of life, has been taken 
from us, regarding whom I can with perfect con¬ 
fidence say that through God’s grace he could 
give this testimony: ‘I have fought the good fight.’ 
I refer to our friend Dr. Owen. For twenty- 
eight years, without once leaving this country, 
he had borne the burden and heat of the day 
and much useful, permanent work had our friend 
crowded into that period. He arrived in this 
country with a high reputation for solid scholar¬ 
ship and genuine piety which his subsequent 


256 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

career fully justified. From his first landing in 
India he threw himself heartily into mission 
work. He acquired soon a thorough and accurate 
knowledge of the vernaculars. Whatsoever his 
hand found to do in mission work, that he did 
with all his might. We find him for some time 
superintending the large Jumna school, which he 
raised to the highest state of efficiency, and there 
are now native Christian ministers and catechists 
who testify the deep obligations under which Dr. 
Owen laid them when his pupils by giving them 
a good solid, high-class education fitting them 
for being workmen that need not be ashamed in 
the field of labor in which they have been called 
to work. He willingly responded to the request 
of the North India Bible Society’s committee to 
assist in bringing out a new edition of the Hindi 
Old Testament—a work which was accomplished 
to the entire satisfaction of the Christian public 
in Northern India. We find him, after the 
mutiny of 1857, acting as secretary of the North 
India Bible and tract societies, making every 
exertion to enlist the sympathies of the Christians 
in these provinces in the important work of re¬ 
placing the large stock of Scriptures and religious 
books that had then been destroyed. Later still, 
when another edition of the Hindi Old Testa¬ 
ment was required, all eyes were turned toward 


WORK COMPLETED. 


257 


him as the missionary best qualified to bring out 
the work—a work which he had just completed 
when he left for England. 

“ Again his ripe scholarship and acoustic 
knowledge of Urdu was brought into requisition 
to bring out exhaustive commentaries in Urdu 
on the Psalms and Isaiah, which are an immense 
boon to the native Christian Church. No more 
will the living voice of our dear friend be heard 
by the natives of this country, on whose behalf 
he was willing to spend and be spent, but through 
his Hindi Old Testament and commentaries he, 
being dead, yet speaketh in exhorting the heathen 
to turn from dumb idols to serve the living God, 
the Mohammedans to believe in Jesus as the only 
true Prophet who can reveal the will of God for 
their salvation, and in building up the native 
Christians in faith and holiness. 

“ You know what a warm interest Dr. Owen 
took in everything that concerned our English 
congregation. When I first came to Allahabad, 
he cheerfully handed over to me the care of the 
church, and as an office-bearer was always ready 
to strengthen my hands and encourage my heart 
in the work to which our heavenly Father had 
here called me. He frequently preached to you, 
and his great theme was ‘ Christ crucified/ He 
was never absent from his pew on Sabbath except 

17 


258 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


when calls of necessity and mercy prevented him 
from worshiping with us, and as our communion 
season came round, and he gave into our hands 
the elements representing Christ’s broken body 
and shed blood, we all felt that he who then bore 
the vessels of the sanctuary was a true son of 
Aaron—a priest of the living God. You know 
that it was owing to him that our prayer-meeting 
was started in 1858—that meeting which perhaps 
more than any other means of grace has fostered 
the spiritual life of our congregation. Not long 
before he left us in order to connect you more 
directly as a congregation with some definite mis¬ 
sionary work, he established the mission school 
in our Kutra church, which was to be supported 
by you. And the need for this school is shown 
by the fact that it is attended by about one hun¬ 
dred and fifty boys, who there receive a good 
plain religious education. 

“ As a member of our community Dr. Owen 
was universally respected and beloved, and, while 
scoffers would point to the inconsistent conduct 
of this and that professor of religion, there was 
never breathed a whisper of detraction against 
him. ... It was a privilege for us to have in our 
midst one whose acted motto was, ‘For me to 
live is Christ.’ He has left us an example that 
we should follow his steps. Let us all seek for 


WORK COMPLETED . 


259 


grace to use faithfully the talents entrusted to us, 
so that when our race is run, our warfare is ended, 
we can take up these grand words of the apostle: 
‘ I have fought a good fight, I have finished my 
course, I have kept the faith.’ ” 

Although the coincidence is not strange that 
the same passage of Scripture occurred to Dr. 
Candlish upon his last visit to the death-bed of 
his friend and to Dr. Duff three hours later, and 
was chosen by Mr. Williamson for the memorial 
sermon in India, it certainly testifies to a common 
impression that Dr. Owen’s missionary life had 
been faithful, laborious and efficient. 

To his large Christian charity, ever ready to 
embrace true followers of the Lord under any 
name, many testimonies might be quoted. 

The Rev. George Smith, editor of the Friend 
of India , writes of him as “ an ornament to our 
common Presbyterianism, while so catholic as to 
belong to the whole Church.” And the Rev. 
Theodore S. Wynkoop, a missionary for several 
years at the station with which Dr. Owen was so 
long connected, in a letter to the Presbyterian , 
writes as follows: 

“ When I first arrived in Allahabad, in Janu¬ 
ary, 1869, Dr. Owen was completing his prep¬ 
arations for leaving India for a time. He was 
looking fresh and strong, with every appearance 


260 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

of perfect health, although, as appeared after his 
death, the disease which developed into abscess 
of the liver had already come upon him. He 
was a man of fine personal appearance, and none 
who knew him will soon forget the grace and 
dignity of his bearing, the sweetness and courtesy 
of his manner. It was with regret that we parted 
with him for what we hoped would be but an 
absence of a year or two. 

“ Throughout all his missionary life Dr. Owen 
took a deep interest in the education of young 
men* He taught in the mission schools, he 
gathered young men about him and did all that 
was in his power for their intellectual and moral 
improvement, and there are many now, both 
among our native Christians and those who have 
not professed the faith, who owe their training 
and position, under God, to him. . . . He was 
especially interested in the native Church, and 
ever sought its welfare. A man of marked 
scholarly tastes and accomplishments, he became 
unusually well versed in the language of Hindu¬ 
stan, as well as in the Greek, and particularly the 
Hebrew. He was thus fitted for that most useful 
and ennobling of all uninspired tasks the trans¬ 
lation of the word of God. He was largely 
concerned some years ago in the revision of the 
first translation of the Hindi Bible, and at the 


WORK COMPLETED. 


261 


time of his leaving India had just carried through 
the press a still further revision of the Old Testa¬ 
ment in Hindi, which was entrusted to him alone. 
This work gave great satisfaction to the committee 
of the North India Bible Society. I was present 
at a meeting of that committee in January, 1869, 
at which a purse of five hundred rupees was 
presented to him by them as a token of their 
appreciation of his services. This was received 
by him with much emotion. The amount was 
sufficient to enable him on his homeward route 
to visit Jerusalem and the Holy Land—a visit 
which fulfilled the desires of many years and 
gave him keen delight. 

“ Hr. Owen’s translation of the book of Psalms 
into the Hindustanee language is regarded as a 
very able and useful work. He also published, 
besides smaller writings, a treatise on theology 
in the Hindustanee, which is used as a text-book 
for all our students of theology, as • are also his 
commentaries on the book of Psalms and the 
prophecies of Isaiah. To these he devoted much 
time and labor, and they will remain as standard 
volumes in the Christian literature of India.” 

The character of Hr. Owen has been delineated 
in his work. Its principal feature from youth to 
age was single-hearted consecration to the Lord 
in the preaching of his gospel to the heathen. 


CHAPTER XV. 


SKETCH OF LIFE OF HENRY JAMES OWEN. 

TJENRY JAMES OWEN, the only son of Dr. 

Joseph Owen, was born at Allahabad, in 
Northern India, on the 14th of February, 1846. 
In his father’s journal there stands a solemn 
dedication of him to the service of God. The 
passage is one of prayer, but a few sentences from 
its close have become of biographical interest: 

“And now, O my God, this my dear boy is 
thy gift, and my great desire is that he may be 
united to thy Son Jesus Christ.” “ I do not ask 
for him riches or worldly honor. My prayer is 
that he may be intelligent, healthy, entirely de¬ 
voted to thee, even from infancy, that his parents 
may have wisdom to train him properly in every 
respect, and that at length he may be well quali¬ 
fied to become a faithful, useful preacher of right¬ 
eousness and a missionary to the heathen.” “ I 
desire nothing so much for him as this.” “ To 
this work I dedicate him before thee.” 

Under the care of parents whose piety threw 

a cheerful light upon every duty, their son en- 
262 


SKETCH OF LIFE OF HENRY JAMES OWEN. 263 

joyed a healthful and happy childhood. His 
mother, a daughter of Major-General Proctor of 
the British army, had seen much of worldly 
society, but from the testimony of one the best 
qualified to testify “ was an earnest Christian and 
in every way well adapted to be a missionary’s 
wife.” Better training could not be provided 
than in such a family, but it was surrounded by 
heathenism, from which the eyes and ears of the 
child could not be protected. At the age of about 
ten years he was removed for his further education 
to a Christian community, and that the service of 
the mission might not suffer more than necessary 
his mother undertook the voyage with their little 
boy alone. Dr. Owen parted from them in the 
Bay of Bengal. 

Upon landing in England, on the 24th of 
May, 1856, Mrs. Owen, in the midst of friends, 
procured the admission of her son to the school 
at Eton, where he remained during the period 
of their stay in England. Before the end of the 
year their journey was completed, and the anxious 
mother had committed her precious charge to the 
care of those who were to be entrusted with the 
superintendence of his further education. And 
yet her own oversight was not at once withdrawn. 
But successive rumors of the mutiny were now 
reaching the coasts of America, and dear interests 


264 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 


also awaited her in India; there were dangers 
which the soldier’s daughter longed to share with 
her heroic husband. On the 21st of September, 
1857, after an absence of one year and seven 
months, she was again in Calcutta, many months 
before the close of the war, and when it closed 
was on hand to aid in her own way toward the 
restoring of the mission. But her little boy she 
never saw again. At the end of seven years, 
when he, after having completed a successful 
preparatory course, was in the midst of his studies 
at Princeton, his mother passed away through 
her happy Christian death in India. To what 
influences she had left her only child will appear 
best in a few sentences from a letter written by 
himself at a much later time: 

“ The church at Mount Cisco, N, Y., has had a 
remarkable history. It was founded by a few 
earnest, devoted men, the most of whom have 
long since entered into their rest. I have known 
it during the last twenty years. When I came 
to this country, in September, 1856, I was en¬ 
rolled as a member of the Sabbath-school, and 
the instructions I received there during the years 
of my boyhood have made a lasting impression 
on my mind. I remember especially the teach¬ 
ings of Mr. Joshua Teller, an honored elder of 
the church, who was one of the best expounders 


SKETCH OF LIFE OF HENRY JAMES OWEN 265 

of the Scriptures I ever knew. The old church 
is hallowed to me by many precious memories of 
relatives and friends, the most of whom have 
passed away. It is to me one of the most sacred 
spots on earth, for it was here I found the Saviour 
and learned the blessedness of trusting in him. 
It was here, on a beautiful Sabbath morning in 
May, I professed my faith in the Lord Jesus and 
my determination to serve him.” 

After taking his first degree at Princeton Col¬ 
lege, Mr. Owen spent two years in the theological 
seminary there. He then, in accordance with 
his father’s wishes, visited some of the European 
seats of learning, especially spending one year in 
the Free Church Divinity Hall of Edinburgh 
and two years at the University of Bonn. In 
the latter his instructor was the Bev. Dr. Christ- 
lieb, who also after his death wrote to his bereaved 
wife a letter of tender condolence. A few para¬ 
graphs of it are also biographical: 

“Well do I remember when I was called to 
Bonn, ten years ago, that he was one of the first 
foreign students who heard my course of lectures 
on homiletics in the winter of 1868-69. As 
he was then in some difficulty with the lan¬ 
guage, I invited him and a Scotch student to 
fetch me regularly for a walk, during which 
I gave to them the substance of my lectures 


266 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

in English till they could follow them easily in 
German. 

“ In the spring of 1869 he had some idea of 
going for a time to Paris, in order to master the 
French language as well, and to become a teacher 
of languages. I tried to show him the inferior¬ 
ity of such an employment compared with the 
spiritual labor in the Lord’s vineyard; so, if I rec¬ 
ollect right, he shortened his residence in Paris 
and came back here (to Bonn) in the summer, 
when his father met him, and his mother, whom 
I had the pleasure of seeing also in my house. 

“ That this dislike for the pastoral office with 
which he had to struggle for a time had some 
deeper reasons I could sometimes observe, but he 
never resisted my hints about the glorious great¬ 
ness, harmony and moral as well as historical 
certainty of our Christian belief. 

“ When he left, he was, as I suppose, still un¬ 
certain what course he should take, preaching or 
teaching; so I was truly glad to hear afterward 
of his settling to theology and pastoral work. 
When we came to Princeton (in 1873), and had 
such a cordial reception by the professors of the 
college and the theological seminary, I could see 
his great delight in meeting some of his former 
professors quite unexpectedly on American soil, 
and for us it was not less gratifying to see at 


SKETCH OF LIFE OF HENRY JAMES OWEN. 267 


least one well-known face amidst hundreds of 
students and teachers unknown to us personally. 
The pleasant hour I spent with him and you the 
evening of that day in your fathers house I shall 
never forget.” 

Dr. Owen and Mrs. Owen, who had left Allah¬ 
abad in the beginning of February, 1869, were 
now pursuing their journey up the Danube. 
Henry suspended his studies to meet them at 
Vienna. Thence returning with them, after a 
brief stay at Bonn they proceeded to Scotland, 
landing at Edinburgh on the 20th of July, 1869. 
There, by circumstances of his father’s residence, 
and afterward long illness, ending in death, he 
was detained for more than a year and a half.* 
His father’s purpose that after a visit to America 
they should all return to India and spend the 
rest of his days in the work of his mission was 
defeated. Mrs. Owen saw her husband laid 
among the great and good of Edinburgh, and pre¬ 
ferred to remain with the people of her native land. 

Henry had now before him the scene of his 
father’s labors, but from that choice he was de¬ 
terred by the best medical skill of Edinburgh, 
warning him of the danger—in his case almost 
a certainty—of ophthalmia on the plains of 

* Part of that time he availed himself of the abundant means of 
further instruction. 


268 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

India. He returned to Princeton, and made his 
residence once more for a time with his friends, 
remaining in the theological seminary, preaching 
in different churches of the neighborhood as 
occasion offered. Early in the summer of 1871 
he was married to Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. 
George Sheldon, D. D., of Princeton, a lady 
who proved a true and efficient helper in all his 
succeeding labors and a comforter in his subse¬ 
quent sufferings. In August of the same year 
he received a unanimous invitation to become 
pastor of the Richmond Church, Philadelphia, 
and on the 16th of October, 1871, he was ordain¬ 
ed and installed by the Presbytery of Philadel¬ 
phia Central to the work of the ministry among 
that people. In the words of the Rev. Wil¬ 
liam O. Johnstone, D. D., “a divine blessing 
rested upon his labors from the beginning of 
his ministerial career, and sealed them with to¬ 
kens of the dear Lord’s approbation. As a result 
of his first month’s toil twelve were added to the 
church, and two hundred and fifty during the 
five years he remained with those people. The 
last quarter of Ids last year was the most fruit¬ 
ful of all, the accessions during the year being 
ninety-seven, and of these sixty were received 
on the 2d of April, 1876, when he administered 
the communion for the first time in the new and 


SKETCH OF LIFE OF HENRY JAMES OWEN. 269 


beautiful edifice he had done so much to erect, 
and the last time but one as pastor in it.” 

Mr. Owen also did much toward completing 
the internal equipment of the structure in which 
his congregation worshiped. The necessity oc¬ 
curred at a time when a great financial pressure 
rendered specially difficult any Christian or 
benevolent enterprise. Under these circumstances 
pastor and congregation both devoted their zeal 
to the execution of the work, and by January, 
1876, the whole was finished. But the pastor’s 
health had been failing for some time, and by 
the month of May in that year it was thought 
advisable for him to take an entire rest by a 
visit to Europe. Meanwhile, his salary was con¬ 
tinued and provision was made for the services 
of the pulpit. The improvement in his health 
did not sustain expectation. Four months’ longer 
recess was added. But an entire change of resi¬ 
dence was thought necessary to the restoration 
of his health. Presbytery was appealed to, and 
dissolved the pastoral relationship in November, 
1876. 

Mr. Owen had enjoyed in younger days good 
health in South Salem, Westchester County, New 
York. Removal now to that locality was looked 
to for beneficial effects, and improvement actually 
attended his labors in that church during the en- 


270 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

suing winter, and fifty persons were added to the 
number of the congregation. But with the ad¬ 
vance of spring his ailments returned, and con¬ 
strained him once more to withdraw from pastoral 
duty. Medical advisers recommended a residence 
at Colorado Springs. In the middle of April he 
arrived in that boasted place of health, and for a 
time was cheered with hope of recovery. The 
Presbyterian church of Canon City extended to 
him a call to be their pastor, with the condition 
that he was to preach only once on the Sab¬ 
bath and do light work during the week. On 
these terms he accepted it, and made arrangements 
to move down to Canon City soon after January 1, 
1878, but on the 7th of December he was suddenly 
taken with chills and fever, which he had every 
day without intermission for more than a week.* 
By that means his progress toward recovery was 
undone, and the work which he loved so well had 
to be surrendered. He was confined to his bed only 
during the last six days of his life, but his health 
was wavering, with a tendency to increasing 
weakness, until the latter part of March, 1878. 
On one of those days a kind Christian friend 
intimated to him how critical was his condition, 
and that he was probably near the end. He 
replied, “ Do you think so? You do not know 

* Colorado Springs Gazette of Dec. 22, 1877. 


SKETCH OF LIFE OF HENRY JAMES OWEN. 271 

how happy you make me by telling me that. I 
am a poor sinner, but Jesus has pardoned me all. 
I only wish I had done more for him.” In like 
manner, when his wife said, on that Sabbath 
morning when he awaked from sleep to die, 
“ Dearest, do you want to go home to be with 
Jesus?” the name thrilled him and aroused him 
from his apparent unconsciousness. He replied, 
“Yes, I want to go home to be with Jesus.” 
—“ To-day ?” she said. “ This is the Sabbath.” 
—“ To-day!” was the emphatic and smiling reply. 
After this he sent messages of love to his dear 
ones, repeated after his wife the first and fourth 
verses of the twenty-third psalm, and so fell 
asleep in Jesus on the 31st day of March, 1878. 

Thus passed away from this world the con¬ 
secrated son of the dedicated missionary. The 
prayer of the pious father over the birth of his 
son was accepted by God, and answered in its 
best and substantial import. The son received 
neither wealth nor length of days, nor was he 
permitted to undertake missionary work in India, 
but he enjoyed health and great capacity for 
labor until his fatal malady assailed him. By 
the grace of God he lived a consistent Christian 
life—in that respect an example to those among 
whom he ministered. And his brief ministry 
of only a little over five years was so mercifully 


272 THE STORY OF A DEDICATED LIFE. 

followed by the divine blessing that not less than 
three hundred persons were persuaded to profess 
their faith in Christ, and we may hope, in the 
language of his father’s prayer, “ turned to right¬ 
eousness through his instrumentality.” 

Dr. Sheldon, when informed, at Princeton, of 
his son-in-law’s dangerous illness, undertook 
immediately the long journey to Colorado, in 
the hope that, even if health were past restoring, 
he might arrive in time to comfort the hour of 
departure. He met the funeral escort on the 
train at Kansas City. 

Funeral services were held at the Springs 
previous to the long and mournful journey home¬ 
ward, and again at the Richmond Church, Phila¬ 
delphia, where an excellent memorial discourse 
was delivered by the Rev. William O. Johnstone, 
D. D., and finally the services prior to interment 
in the cemetery at Princeton were conducted in 
the house of Dr. Sheldon, at which President 
McCosh and several professors took part, and Dr. 
Atwater closed the exercises at the grave. And 
thus with due solemnity was the dedicated son of 
a self-dedicated father laid away to await the 
coming of the Lord. 


THE END. 







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